FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Burma

Naomi Long: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he has made any commitments not to support a UN General Assembly resolution on human rights in Burma in 2014.

Hugo Swire: We welcomed the UN General Assembly 3rd Committee Country Resolution on the Situation of Human Rights in Burma, which was sponsored by the EU and adopted by consensus on 20 November 2013. While recognising areas where the Burmese Government have made genuine progress, the resolution, agreed by all member states including Burma, further emphasised our ongoing human rights concerns. The EU will decide later in the year whether to sponsor a country resolution at the UN General Assembly. This will depend on the situation and the views of member states at the time.

Iran

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will take steps to include Saudi Arabia in forthcoming P5+1 negotiations with Iran.

Hugh Robertson: Countries in the region, like Saudi Arabia, take a close interest in developments concerning Iran's nuclear programme, and we engage regularly with them on this issue. There is however no mechanism for including regional countries formally in the process.

Nuclear Weapons

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether the UK will be represented at the conference on the humanitarian effects of nuclear weapons hosted by the Mexican Government at Nayarit on 13 and 14 February 2014.

Hugh Robertson: I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 2 December 2013, Official Report, column 570W, to the hon. Member for Islington North (Jeremy Corbyn).

Sri Lanka

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of progress in establishing the independent international inquiry into events at the end of the conflict in Sri Lanka since the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 2013; and if he will make a statement.

Hugo Swire: As the Prime Minister said in his statement to Parliament on 18 November 2013, Official Report, columns 959-61, we will continue to press the Sri Lankan Government for credible, transparent and independent investigations into alleged war crimes. We have made clear that if a credible domestic process has not begun properly by March we will use our seat on the UN Human Rights Council to call for an international investigation. We are regularly discussing Sri Lanka with a range of international partners in the run-up to the next session of the Human Rights Council in March. The High Commissioner for Human Rights' report ahead of the Human Rights Council will give an assessment of Sri Lanka's progress.

Syria

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of progress on the removal of chemical weapons from Syria.

Hugh Robertson: It is the Syrian regime's responsibility to comply with the UN Security Council resolution by eliminating all of its chemical weapons material and equipment in the first half of 2014.
	Syria has completed the functional destruction of critical equipment held at all declared chemical weapons production facilities and at mixing and filling plants, rendering them inoperable.
	The removal of the Priority 1 chemical material from Syria has begun and the international plan for the destruction of the Syrian chemical stockpile is developing well with several countries ready to play their part.
	The Syrian regime must ensure that the remaining material is transported to the port as quickly as possible to ensure that all chemicals can be eliminated by the end of June.

Syria

John Woodcock: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what support his Department is providing to opposition forces in Syria to develop governmental structures.

Hugh Robertson: We are providing a range of support to the Syrian National Coalition who we recognize as the sole legitimate representatives of the Syrian people. This includes advisers and training to build the central organisational structures for the institutions of the National Coalition, and to improve its media functions. We have also provided advisers to build the capacity of the Coalition's Assistance Co-ordination Unit, the body which oversees the delivery of humanitarian aid to opposition held areas.

COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Berkshire

Alok Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will publish details of all funds allocated by his Department and associated agencies to (a) Reading borough council and (b) West Berkshire council in (i) 2010-11, (ii) 2011-12, (iii) 2012-13 and (iv) 2013-14 to date.

Brandon Lewis: The Department already makes this information available. All payments from May 2010 to present in excess of £250 are published on my Department's transparency website which can be found at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/dclg-spending-over-250
	Payments to Reading borough council and West Berkshire council are all detailed here.

Betting Shops: Planning Permission

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many (a) licence and (b) planning applications for betting shops were refused by local authorities in the last year.

Nicholas Boles: holding answer 13 January 2014
	The Gambling Commission publishes figures on the total number of licensed betting shops. Their figures show that as of March 2012, there were 9,128 licensed betting shops in Great Britain; 9,055 as of March 2013; and 9,031 as of September 2013. The figures are not substantively different from the level in the final year of the last Administration.
	My Department does not collect specific statistics on planning applications for betting shops.

Computer Software

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many software licences his Department has (a) purchased and (b) used since May 2010.

Brandon Lewis: holding answer 5 November 2013
	In August 2013, the Department's outsourced IT service provider (Steria as part of its hand-over to our new provider Fujitsu) recorded that the Department had 57,739 software licences in use across 2,500 desktops. These licences included core desktops which had 27 different elements to the system including, for example, Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Office, virus protection, SAP Enterprise Resource Planning software application, Personal Information Management System and remote access licences.
	Our procurement records show that DCLG has purchased a total of 9,498 software licences for the period May 2010 to October 2013. This does not include software purchased by the Department's outsourced IT services providers.
	The overwhelming bulk of these purchases have been made in the last year, as part of the Department's upgrading of its desktop IT systems; these systems were initially purchased in 2007 and are now are in need of upgrading, for productivity and security reasons. This includes migrating from Windows XP and Microsoft Office 2003, which Microsoft are shortly ceasing to support (ie no longer publishing security patches). We are also seeking to rationalise the number of products in use, from the legacy systems inherited from the Department's predecessors, including the Department for Environment, Transport and the Regions.
	As my Department recommended in our document, “50 ways to save”, we are reducing our software costs through the use of Open Source software. There are a number of excellent examples in DCLG of this approach including our new intranet and the public facing 'opendatacommunities' web solution that relies on a very wide range of .open source software. The end point operating system on 50% of our new estate is now Linux based.
	The new Desktop IT Services contract will cut yearly costs by 40%, compared to current contracts, delivering a significant saving for taxpayers.

Estate Agents: Newcastle Upon Tyne

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment he has made of Newcastle city council's application for the removal of deemed consent of To Let boards; and when he intends to announce a final decision on this matter.

Nicholas Boles: A number of representations were submitted to the Department for and against the application for removal of deemed consent of To Let boards made by Newcastle city council. Where representations are received against an application, a hearing takes place chaired by an independent inspector who will consider the representations made, any further representations made in support and against the application and hear oral evidence on the day of the hearing.
	The Planning Inspectorate and Newcastle city council are currently in the process of arranging a suitable hearing date. A decision will then be given following a fair hearing and due process.

Fire Services: Floods

David Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will bring forward legislative proposals to impose a statutory duty on Fire and Rescue Services in England to respond to flooding incidents.

Brandon Lewis: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave the hon. Member for Barnsley Central (Dan Jarvis) today, PQ 182786.

Fire Services: Floods

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will bring forward legislative proposals to impose a statutory duty on the fire and rescue service to respond to flooding incidents.

Brandon Lewis: The Civil Contingencies Act 2004 and the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 detail the roles and powers of fire and rescue authorities in respect of both emergency response and rescue in a wide range of situations, including from flooding. Fire and rescue authorities are expected to produce Integrated Risk Management Plans which identify the full range of risks that an authority's service is expected to respond to and is subject to consultation. This approach is enshrined in The National Fire Framework which was given statutory effect in August 2012. When it comes to rescuing people from floods there are a number of agencies involved, particularly in coastal areas, where, as well as fire and rescue authorities, the Royal National Lifeboat Institute and Search and Rescue helicopters can become involved. In any area, individuals and agencies with boats may also volunteer to help. Usually the fire and rescue authorities take the lead in co-ordinating the flood rescue co-ordination as a leading category 1 responder under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004.

Fires: Domestic Appliances

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many fires were caused by (a) dishwashers, (b) irons, (c) cookers, (d) washing machines, (e) tumble dryers, (f) refrigerators and (g) televisions in each year for which data are available.

Brandon Lewis: The numbers of fires attended by local authority fire and rescue services by source of ignition, including these types of domestic appliance, can be found in the publication ‘Fire Statistics Great Britain’. These are also split for each type of appliance according to the type of fault or misuse.
	Data for years from 2009-10 are in a downloadable file entitled ‘Accidental Fires' which accompanies the latest edition of ‘Fire Statistics Great Britain’:
	www.gov.uk/government/collections/fire-statistics-great-britain
	Data for the years of 2000 to 2008 can be found in table 21 of the relevant edition and can be downloaded from:
	http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20121108165934/http://www.communities.gov.uk/fire/researchandstatistics/firestatistics/firestatisticsuk/

Housing

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what his most recent estimate is of the number of residential units with planning permission; and how many of those (a) have started on site and (b) are yet to start on site.

Nicholas Boles: In my answers of 9 July 2013, Official Report, column 189W; 7 November 2013, Official Report, column 345-347W and 10 December 2013, Official Report, column 158W, I gave comprehensive replies pointing out the inaccurate claims being propagated by HM Opposition that there were 400,000 (or more) homes with planning permission which were not being built because of 'land banking'. I explained how these suggestions were not backed up by the factual evidence or independent studies.
	I note that the right hon. Member has tried to resurrect this dead canard, further to his comments in the debate of 8 January 2014, Official Report, column 334.
	The latest figures from Glenigan estimate that the number of dwellings with planning permission that are classified as 'on hold or shelved' has fallen from 59,100 in October 2013, to 57,100 in December 2013 to 55,800 in January 2014. This reflects an ongoing trend, assisted by the comprehensive package of Government measures to get stalled sites moving (many of which have been opposed by HM Opposition).
	As of January 2014, there were 265,000 units with planning permission which had started on site and a further 202,900 which were progressing towards a start.
	The total number of sites with planning permission is 538,100 dwellings; the remainder is for sites which had been sold, were due to be sold, or else the information was not available. All information is based on sites of 10 units or greater.
	These figures reflect the fact that the number of planning approvals for new homes is rising and is now at its highest rate since 2007 (Home Builders Federation press release, ‘Big Jump in Housing Planning Permissions’, 2 December 2013) and the fact that housing construction is at its highest levels since 2007. More housing sites have planning permission and more housing sites are being built out.
	As the Home Builders Federation noted in their December press release:
	‘We have already seen evidence of a rise in new homes starts and these figures show the industry's intent to increase and sustain that over the next few years. Developers are building out current sites more quickly and are now looking to invest in new sites and begin development sooner than previously planned.’
	One of the remaining practical obstacles to sites starting is the imposition of unreasonable and disproportionate planning conditions, on top of the substantive planning permission. We will be announcing further steps in due course to help tackle such unreasonable conditions to help reduce delays in the planning system and help build more homes. It will be insightful whether HM Opposition oppose this further reduction of excessive red tape.

Mobile Homes

Andrew Stephenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent representations he has received from the owners of caravan parks on planned changes to regulations affecting the security of contracts for their residents.

Stephen Williams: The Department has received no representation from owners of holiday caravan sites on changes to regulations affecting the security of contracts for their residents. Pitch agreements between holiday caravan owners and site owners are subject to the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999, which protects consumers from enforceability of unfair terms in contracts. There are no changes to the regulations planned.

Pay

Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 
	(1)  what the median gross pay is of staff in his Department and its Executive agencies in each pay band who are identified as (a) white British and (b) of black, Asian and other minority ethnic groups;
	(2)  what the median gross pay of (a) men and (b) women is in each pay band in his Department.

Brandon Lewis: The median gross pay of staff in my Department in each pay band and equivalents by ethnicity is as follows:
	
		
			 £ 
			 Pay grade White British Black, Asian or other ethnic minority groups 
			 Administrative Officer 25,847 25,847 
			 Executive Officer 28,909 30,162 
			 Higher Executive Officer 32,273 33,479 
			 Senior Executive Officer 39,982 38,824 
			 Grade 7 52,372 51,829 
			 Grade 6 62,642 63,450 
			 Senior Civil Service 72,500 70,995 
		
	
	The median gross pay of staff in the Planning Inspectorate in each pay band and equivalents by ethnicity is as follows:
	
		
			 £ 
			 Pay grade White British Black, Asian or other ethnic minority groups 
			 Administrative Assistant 17,622 16,449 
			 Administrative Officer 20,970 20,970 
			 Executive Officer 25,589 25,589 
			 Higher Executive Officer 32,406 32,406 
			 Senior Executive Officer 40,659 n/a 
			 Grade 7 52,203 n/a 
			 Grade 6 68,293 n/a 
			 Senior Civil Service 86,792 n/a 
			 Housing and Planning Inspector 42,878 47,501 
			 Senior Housing and Planning Inspector 58,139 59,404 
			 Principal Housing and Planning Inspector 65,416 71,957 
		
	
	As the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre has less than 50 staff, and do not operate standard civil service pay bands, it would not be appropriate to provide the level of detail requested. Given the small numbers involved by splitting the staffing as above, we could not disclose the results without infringing the rights of the individuals concerned.
	The median gross pay of male and female staff in my Department by pay band is as follows:
	
		
			 £ 
			 Pay grade and equivalents Median gross pay of male staff Median gross pay of female staff 
			 Administrative Officer 25,847 25,847 
			 Executive Officer 30,162 28,939 
			 Higher Executive Officer 32,501 32,406 
			 Senior Executive Officer 41,035 39,163 
			 Grade 7 52,961 51,653 
			 Grade 6 63,916 62,886 
			 Senior Civil Service 75,013 68,586 
		
	
	It is important to note that the notional pay disparities at certain levels stem from differences in how long individual staff have been in their grade, and therefore how far they have progressed up their pay scale at the relevant point in time. When a female member of staff has been in a particular grade for the same period as a male they will be at the same pay level—so they do have equal pay. The same principle applies to ethnicity. It would be incorrect to suggest that there is a systematic bias or discrimination based on gender or ethnicity from the correlation of these figures, rather it is a reflection of historic recruitment patterns.

Planning Permission

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 
	(1)  in how many cases he has (a) modified and (b) cancelled a local authority Article 4 direction since May 2010;
	(2)  in how many cases where local authorities have issued Article 4 directions have they been required to pay compensation to those who permitted development rights have been withdrawn or curtailed as a result of the direction since May 2010;
	(3)  how many Article 4 directions relating to betting shops issued by each local authority his Department has been notified of in each of the last two years;
	(4)  how many Article 4 directions relating to fast food shops issued by each local authority his Department has been notified of in each of the last two years;
	(5)  how many article 4 directions relating to payday lending shops issued by each local authority his Department has been notified of in each of the last two years.

Nicholas Boles: The information is as follows:
	Modification or cancellation
	Since May 2010, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government has not modified or cancelled any article 4 direction made by a local authority. The power is there, but it is a reserve power. By contrast, under the last Administration, the permission of the then Secretary of State was required to confirm article 4 directions.
	Compensation
	Local authorities are not required to notify my Department when compensation proceedings are taken against them. However, I am unaware of any successful claims for compensation. I would note that it is possible in certain circumstances for councils to limit their liability to pay compensation if they issue a non-immediate direction. Ministers in this Administration have repeatedly pointed out that councils can issue such non-immediate directions since 2010: so there has been plenty of opportunity for councils to issue these powers in the meantime.
	Hot food/takeaways
	There are no permitted development rights that would allow the change of use of a premises to hot food/takeaways (A5 use).
	A2 use class (financial and professional services)
	Payday lenders and betting shops both fall within the broader A2 use class. In the last two years the Department has been notified of the following article 4 directions which remove permitted development rights, including A2.
	
		
			 Local planning authority Permitted development right removed 
			 Yorkshire Dales National Park Changes of use rights from agriculture to flexible uses, including A2 introduced by Class M of the 2013 amendment to the General Permitted Development Order. 
			 London Borough of Islington Temporary, flexible use rights, including A2 introduced by Class D of the 2013 amendment to the General Permitted Development Order. 
			 London Borough of Barking and Dagenham Change of use rights from A3 (restaurants and cafes), A4 (drinking establishments) and A5 (hot food/takeaways) to A2 uses. 
			 London Borough of Southwark1 Two directions: The first removed change of use rights from A3 (restaurants and cafes), A4 (drinking establishments) and A5 (hot food/takeaways) to A2 uses. The second removed temporary, flexible use rights, including A2 uses introduced by Class D of the 2013 amendment to the General Permitted Development Order. 
			 1 Formal notification awaited.

Public Expenditure

Jeremy Lefroy: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what savings have been identified in his Department's latest set of accounts; and if he will make a statement.

Brandon Lewis: The Annual Report and Accounts includes savings of £75 million against our administration budget for 2012-13. These savings form part of the 40% reduction on administration which we will deliver over the current spending review period up to 2014-15, delivering real term savings in excess of £530 million.
	We continue to strive to reduce our costs, push the efficiency agenda and ensure we deliver good financial management, delivering the largest savings in Whitehall.
	The Department has reduced staff numbers by 60% on a like-for-like basis, with continued savings being sustained by strict controls over recruitment as well as pay structure reform meaning an end to automatic pay progression for all new entrants, and cutting back trade union ‘facility time' to private sector levels.
	We are committed to maintaining a high level of control over all aspects of departmental spend, which is reflected in our savings of over 85% in consultancy, Government procurement cards, marketing and communications.
	Our commitment to efficiency extends to our arm's length bodies. Therefore as reported in our Annual Report and Accounts 2012-13 we have closed or transferred 14 of our arm's length bodies, generating £173 million of savings (in addition to savings from the abolition of regional government).
	Looking ahead, our upcoming move to Marsham street in 2014 will save our Department £9 million per year, and save taxpayers a total of £220 million over the lifetime of the building's lease commitments.
	The recently approved new IT contract will save the Department £3.4 million per annum, and provide DCLG with the best value for money and affordable IT in Government. Moving towards a shared service approach on the delivery of all our corporate services will further emphasise the Department’s commitment to efficiency and joint working in the public sector, and further save taxpayers' money.

Public Expenditure

Andy Sawford: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will place in the Library the exchange of correspondence between his Department and the National Audit Office (NAO) with regard to his Department's unauthorised overdraft and fines imposed by the NAO.

Brandon Lewis: holding answer 9 December 2013
	No such specific correspondence exists. No fine was imposed by the National Audit Office.
	The Department has ongoing discussions with the National Audit Office on its day to day work; for example, an overview of the Department in 2012-13 can be found online at:
	http://www.nao.org.uk/report/departmental-overview-the-performance-of-the-department-for-communities-and-local-government-2012-13/

Regulation

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 
	(1)  what the title was of each set of regulations introduced by his Department in each month since May 2010; and which of those regulations have been (a) subject to the (i) one in one out and (ii) one in two out procedure and (b) (i) revoked and (ii) amended;
	(2)  if he will provide the estimated cost of each regulation introduced by his Department since May 2010; and what the estimated benefits of each regulation (a) amended and (b) revoked were.

Nicholas Boles: The Department for Communities and Local Government is committed to removing bureaucracy, red tape and unnecessary burdens.
	Based on the ‘one in, one out'/'one in, two out' methodology, the table shows how we have removed five times as many regulations as introduced, although many of the ‘zero' measures are also beneficial to business in practice.
	This table does not represent a comprehensive list of the red tape that my Department has removed, but I would be happy to work up a list of deregulatory achievements if my hon. Friend wishes to ask a supplementary question.
	
		
			 Title of the Measure Month One-In, One-Out/One-In, Two-Out Status Equivalent Annual Net Cost to Business (£ million, 2009) 
			 Compulsory pre-planning application consultation with local communities for more significant onshore wind turbine development December 2013 In 0.40 
			 Bringing business and commercial projects within the Planning Act 2008 regime November 2013 Zero 0.00 
		
	
	
		
			 Amendment of the Town and Country Planning Fees Regulations 2012 October 2013 Zero 0.00 
			 Ability to submit planning applications directly to the Secretary of State October 2013 Zero 0.00 
			 Review of Planning Appeal Procedures October 2013 Out 1-2.10 
			 Amendment to Part A of the Building Regulations October 2013 EU-out of scope 4.90 
			 Part C of the Building Regulations October 2013 In 0.32 
			 Increasing permitted development rights for businesses—mobile telecommunications August 2013 Out -1.80 
			 Neighbourhood Planning (Referendums) (Amendment) Regulations 2012 April 2013 Zero 0.00 
			 Amendment to Part P (Electrical safety in dwellings) of the Building Regulations April 2013 Out -12.90 
			 Amendment to Part B (Fire Safety) of the Building Regulations Light Diffusers and Wall Coverings April 2013 Out -24.40 
			 Consolidation and simplification of parts M, K and N of the Building Regulations April 2013 Out -4.10 
			 Amendments to Part M (Access to and use of buildings) of the Building Regulations April 2013 Out -2.00 
			 Amendments to Town and Country Planning (Modification and Discharge of Planning Obligations) (Amendments) (England) Regulations 2012 February 2013 Out 0.00 
			 Changes to the building controls system January/April 2013 Out -1.96 
			 Repeal of Local Acts regarding fire safety standards for buildings January 2013 Out -0.76 
			 Recast of the Energy Performance of Building Regulations (2010/31/EU) January 2013 Out -14.10 
			 Streamlining Information Requirements for Planning Applications January 2013 Out -5.30 
			 Amendment to the Building Regulations 2010—extending the use of self-certification of building work January 2013 Out -3.50 
			 Homelessness (Suitability of Accommodation) (England) Order 2012 November 2012 Zero 0.00 
			 Deregulation of the consent regime for flying flags October 2012 Out -0.02 
			 Extending existing permitted development rights for change of use of space above shops into residential use October 2012 Out -0.03 
			 Reform of social housing regulation ' April 2012 Out -0.17 
			 Improving social housing mobility April 2012 In 0.04 
			 Tenure reform April 2012 In 0.004 
			 Simplifying the Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO) Re-licensing Process April 2012 Out 0.00 
			 Town and Country Planning (Tree Preservation) (England) Regulations 2012 April 2012 Zero 0.00 
			 Permitted Development Rights for Installations of Microgeneration Equipment on Non-domestic Premises April 2012 Out -0.26 
			 Community Right to Bid (Assets of Community Value) April 2012 Zero 0.00 
			 Neighbourhood Plans and Community Right to Build April 2012 Zero 0.00 
			 The Town and Country Planning (Control of Advertisements) (Amendment) (England) Order 2011 October 2011 Out -1.27 
			 The Infrastructure Planning (Changes to, and Revocation of, Development Consent Orders) Regulations 2011 October 2011 Out -0.69 
			 The Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2011 October 2011 Zero 0 
			 The Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (Amendment) (England) Order 2011 August 2011 Zero 0 
			 Building (Amendment) Regulations 2011 July 2011 Out -2.3 
			 Consolidation of Regulations on Tree Preservation Orders April 2011 Zero 0 
			 1 Estimate—equivalent Annual Net Cost to Business number still to be validated. Note: The Government introduced a “One-In, One-Out” system for regulations on 1 September 2010 applying to regulations from 1 January 2011, which was replaced by a "One-In, Two-Out" system on 1 January 2013.

Secondment

Julie Elliott: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many individuals employed by (a) major UK utility companies, (b) Energy UK and (c) any related energy utility organisation were seconded to his Department in (i) 2010, (ii) 2011, (iii) 2012 and (iv) 2013.

Brandon Lewis: Between 2010 and 2013 there have been no staff seconded to the Department from either a major UK utility company, Energy UK or any related energy utility organisation.

Social Rented Housing: North West

David Crausby: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent assessment he has made of trends in rent arrears in social housing in the North West.

Kris Hopkins: I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 27 November 2013, Official Report, columns 340-41W.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Asylum

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment she has made of the effects of a delay in making an initial decision on the mental health of an asylum seeker who stated that they were a victim of torture in their screening interview; and if she will make a statement.

Mark Harper: holding answer 6 January 2014
	We aim to take decisions as quickly as possible. In 2012-13, 78% of initial decisions were taken within six months. In fact we aim to take initial decisions more quickly than six months. In 2012-13, we took 54% within 30 days, up from 47% in 2011-12.
	Sometimes cases will take longer than six months for an initial decision for reasons beyond our control, for example where we are asked to delay a decision for the benefit of the applicant to allow sufficient time to provide expert medical evidence relating to torture or where there are issues relating to national security.
	Those who claim to have been victims of torture are signposted to Freedom from Torture or the Helen Bamber Foundation. However, it is for the applicant or their representative to decide whether to seek an appointment with one of these organisations.

Asylum

David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when she expects to apply key performance indicators to the COMPASS contract.

Mark Harper: The suppliers' performance against key performance indicators has been measured and monitored since the beginning of the transition of services to COMPASS contracts in June 2012.

Asylum

David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what clawback mechanisms are included in the COMPASS contracts; and whether she expects to exercise them.

Mark Harper: The COMPASS contracts contain a range of mechanisms for protecting public expenditure in delivery of asylum accommodation services. These are:
	Application of service credits
	Liquidated damages
	Use of contract warranties and indemnities
	We do not anticipate liquidating damages or clawing back contract warranties and indemnities unless the suppliers go into breach of contract.

Deportation

Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the Answer of 6 January 2014, Official Report, column 25W, on removals, what the largest amount spent on a single unsuccessful removal attempt was in 2013.

Mark Harper: This information is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Deportation

Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 6 January 2014, Official Report, column 25W, on removals, what guidance her Department issues on upper limits to spending on individual deportation cases.

Mark Harper: There is no specified upper limit to the cost of a removal. Each removal is considered on a case by case basis to ensure the most suitable and cost effective method of return is used.

Fraud

Graham Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many qualified personnel in each police force area in England are employed to undertake forensic audits of economic crimes.

Damian Green: The Home Office does not hold this information centrally.

Immigrants: Detainees

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department in how many different prisons individuals who are detained solely under immigration powers are currently detained.

Mark Harper: holding answer 16 December 2013
	Individuals detained solely under immigration powers are currently detained in 83 different England and Wales prisons, nine in Scotland and none in Northern Ireland giving a total for the UK of 92.
	Notes:
	1. All figures quoted have been derived from management information and are therefore provisional and subject to change.
	2. The figures have been extracted from NOMS reports which are taken from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
	3. Data generated on 9 December 2013.

Offences against Children

Yvette Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prosecutions recommended by police forces using intelligence developed by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre were successful in each of the last five years.

Theresa May: holding answer 15 January 2014
	The above information is not held centrally.
	The Child Exploitation and On-line Protection (CEOP) Command in the National Crime Agency (NCA) receives and develops intelligence which is then disseminated to police forces for intervention locally. The decision to progress a particular intelligence package and ultimately to recommend prosecution of an individual rests with the police force concerned.

Pay

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  how many bonuses have been awarded to staff of her Department since 1 September 2013;
	(2)  what value of bonuses has been paid to staff of her Department since 1 September 2013.

James Brokenshire: holding answer 14 January 2014
	The total number of non-consolidated performance payments awarded to staff since 1 September 2013 is 1,570.
	The total value of non-consolidated performance payments paid to staff since 1 September 2013 is £246,509 and the total end of year performance payments paid to staff since September 2013 is £57,602.
	The figures for the non-consolidated performance payments paid to staff since 1 September 2013 will include non-consolidated performance payments awarded to staff prior to 1 September 2013, but were paid on or after 1 September 2013.
	This is because some end of year performance payments were paid on or after 1 September 2013 but were awarded on 1 July 2013, due to late notification of these payments. Also, due to payroll cut off dates some payments would have been awarded since 1 September 2013, but will not yet have been paid to staff.

ATTORNEY-GENERAL

Procurement

Christopher Leslie: To ask the Attorney-General what weighting the Law Officers' Departments procurement procedures give to (a) the location of a company and its workforce, (b) the extent to which a company has a strong environmental record, (c) whether the company is a social enterprise and (d) other company history prior performance.

Oliver Heald: In accordance with Government procurement policy the Law Officers' Departments use pre-tendered pan-government contracts wherever possible for the supply of services. Such contracts will have been awarded following an open competition process led by either the Crown Commercial Services or another Government Department or public sector body.
	Where a requirement for services cannot be met through a pan-Government contract, services will be tendered for directly, usually following an open competition process. Where services are likely to be met by framework suppliers, the Law Officers' Departments have the opportunity to run further competitions from among framework suppliers to refine the requirement for services.
	In both scenarios tenders are evaluated on total value for money and not price alone. It is usual for questions to be included in tenders that require potential suppliers to demonstrate their qualification and prior experience in delivering the specific requirements. Where it is relevant to service delivery, additional evaluation criteria will consider bidders' responses in terms of location, environmental credentials, and status such as social enterprise, sole trader, partnership etc.

Procurement

Christopher Leslie: To ask the Attorney-General how many and of what value of contracts procured by the Law Officers' Departments in the last five years was carried out below EU thresholds.

Oliver Heald: Information on the number and value of contracts procured by the Law Officers' Departments during the last five years which were carried out below EU thresholds is not held centrally and could be determined only at a disproportionate cost.

Procurement

Christopher Leslie: To ask the Attorney-General what proportion of the Law Officers' Departments' contracts have been let to companies with (a) one to five, (b) six to 49, (c) 50 to 250 and (d) more than 250 staff.

Oliver Heald: The Law Officers' Departments do not keep any central records of the number of employees each contracted company has and could provide the information requested only at a disproportionate cost.

Procurement

Christopher Leslie: To ask the Attorney-General what proportion and value of the Law Officers' Departments contracts have been let (a) under the restricted procedure, (b) by the open procedure, (c) via framework agreements and (d) via a tendering process involving the use of a pre-qualification questionnaire in each of the last three years.

Oliver Heald: The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has completed one Official Journal of the European Union procurement project between January 2011 and December 2013. The project established a framework for the supply of video translation services. The framework was let in 2013 for five years with an estimated total value of £5 million to £10 million over the term. Due to the sensitive and specialist nature of the work the procurement involved the use of a pre-qualification questionnaire and was run under the restricted procedure.
	In accordance with Government procurement policy the CPS utilises pan-Government frameworks to procure the majority of its general goods and services. Between 2011 and 2013 the Department has awarded major contracts for stationery, facilities management and translation services via pan-Government frameworks. However, the CPS is a devolved organisation and has not kept central records of all contracts let and the procedure used to award that was used in each of the last three years. To provide this information would involve checking paper records across the CPS and would incur a disproportionate cost.
	The remaining Law Officers' Departments could not provide the information requested without reviewing individual contract files and this research would incur a disproportionate cost.

NORTHERN IRELAND

Fuels: Tax Evasion

Margaret Ritchie: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland 
	(1)  what progress has been made on the introduction of further measures to tackle fuel laundering;
	(2)  what recent discussions she has had with the Minister for Foreign Affairs in the Republic of Ireland on fuel laundering; and what the outcome was of such discussions.

Theresa Villiers: The introduction of a new fuel marker for the United Kingdom is a matter for my hon. Friend the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury.
	Following a joint UK/Irish project, a more robust fuel marker has been identified for use in the UK and Ireland to tackle the laundering of rebated fuels. Further details regarding its implementation and details of the new marker will be announced by Treasury Ministers in due course.

Police Fund (Northern Ireland)

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what plans she has to ensure that financial support for the Northern Ireland Police Fund is increased; and if she will make a statement.

Theresa Villiers: As the hon. Lady is aware, since 2010 funding for policing and justice, including the Northern Ireland Police Fund, has been a devolved matter for the Northern Ireland Executive.

ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Electricity Generation

Ian Swales: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what recent assessment he has made of proposed levels of investment in electricity generation.

Michael Fallon: The EMR Delivery Plan, published in December 2013, estimated that up to £110 billion worth of investment could be required in the electricity sector between 2013 and 2020 to replace our ageing infrastructure with a more diverse and low-carbon energy mix.
	Of this around £70 billion is attributable to power generation capacity and around £40 billion to network investment.

Electronic Equipment: Waste Disposal

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what steps his Department has taken to reduce electrical waste since 2010.

Gregory Barker: DECC have taken the following steps to reduce electrical waste: Any surplus but working electrical equipment is advertised via a Government portal for other Departments to take as required.
	Waste electrical items are fully disposed of in accordance with WEEE regulations. As part of the Facilities Management contract waste electrical items are sent for recycling or reused where possible.
	We have recently developed an ISO14001 complaint environmental management system across our London Estate that will further drive improvements in this area. Additionally specifically for IT electrical items DECC IT operate a sustainability plan that focuses on minimising the devices deployed, via virtualisation, lean provisioning, print reduction and information management. Selecting energy efficient devices (i.e. Energy Star, Spec Power) and looks to use and maintain assets for maximum operational life. Finally the resale or recycling of legacy/end of life devices.

Energy: Billing

Henry Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what steps he is taking to help consumers reduce their energy bills.

Edward Davey: We are very concerned about the rises in bills so we are helping consumers with their energy bills in three ways:
	Direct help with money off their bills;
	With stronger competition; and
	Through energy efficiency programmes.
	Last month, we secured an agreement with the energy companies for an average £50 cut off of this year’s bill, and I am pleased to tell the House that my Department’s own work for greater competition for consumers will be enhanced following the appointment of Clive Maxwell, the current chief executive of the Office of Fair Trading.

Energy: Company Accounts

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change pursuant to the answer of 17 December 2013, Official Report, column 607W, on energy: company accounts, if he will place in the Library a copy of his instructions to Ofgem on the report on the transparency of financial accounts of the energy companies.

Michael Fallon: The Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change has asked Ofgem to deliver a full report on the transparency of financial accounts of the energy companies and ways this could be improved. This will report by spring 2014.

Energy: Competition

Ann McKechin: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what steps he is taking to improve competition in the wholesale energy market.

Edward Davey: There are two main initiatives to increase competition in the wholesale energy market led by Ofgem, which we have underpinned with new powers in the Energy Act 2013.
	First, Ofgem has worked with industry to increase the amount of electricity traded in the "day ahead" market, with very encouraging progress. Over the last 12 months over 50% of electricity has been sold on the day exchanges compared to just 6% in 2010.
	Second, Ofgem's new reforms—most notably, the Market Maker Obligation—should be rolled out from 1 April this year, which will force the Big 6 to publish prices and require them to buy and sell electricity at these prices in the forward markets. This will increase liquidity, transparency and competition.

Energy: Prices

Jesse Norman: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what steps he is taking to ensure that vulnerable customers do not pay disproportionately high unit costs for gas and electricity.

Gregory Barker: This Government are determined to secure a fair deal for all consumers. That is why we provided legislative backing for Ofgem's retail market reforms that deliver our commitment that every consumer should be on the cheapest tariff that meets their needs.

Nuclear Power Stations: Japan

Margaret Ritchie: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assessment he has made of reported radiation levels on the boundary of the Fukushima Nuclear Plant in Japan; and if he will make a statement.

Michael Fallon: The UK Government have not made any specific assessments of reported radiation levels on the boundary of the Fukushima Nuclear Plant. This is a matter for the Japanese authorities.
	The IAEA issues regular Status Reports to the public on the current status of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, including information on environmental radiation monitoring, the status of workers and current conditions on-site at the plant. This information can be found at:
	http://www.iaea.org/newscenter/focus/fukushima/status-reports.html

Power Failures

John Woodcock: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what recent discussions he has had with power companies on their preparedness to deal with bad weather events.

Edward Davey: I met the distribution network operators and key industry players on 8 January to discuss the power cuts over the Christmas period and have set up a review of what worked and what did not. This is due to report back to me before the end of March.
	While there are clearly lessons to be learnt, especially over communications with customers, I want to record, again, my thanks to the thousands of people who worked hard over their Christmases, mostly in difficult circumstances, to look after and reconnect those affected by severe storms and flooding.

Procurement

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much and what value of his Department's procurement was conducted using e-procurement tools in each of the last three financial years.

Gregory Barker: The information requested is not held centrally and can be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Secondment

Julie Elliott: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change 
	(1)  how many individuals employed by (a) major UK utility companies, (b) Energy UK and (c) any related energy utility organisation were seconded to his Department in (i) 2010, (ii) 2011, (iii) 2012 and (iv) 2013;
	(2)  how many people employed by (a) green organisations and (b) consumer groups were seconded to his Department in each of the last four years; and from which organisation each was seconded.

Gregory Barker: The number of people on secondment to the Department of Energy and Climate Change in each year from 2010 to 2013, the companies that they have been seconded from and the year their secondment started, is shown in the following table.
	
		
			  2010 2011 2012 2013 Grand total 
			 Addleshaw Goddard LLP - - - 1 1 
			 Bank of England - - - 1 1 
			 Barclays Bank plc - - 1 - 1 
			 Bright Futures NZ Ltd - 1 - - 1 
			 Carbon Trust - 8 - - 8 
			 Carbon War Room - - 1 - 1 
			 Carillion plc - - 1 - 1 
			 Central Office of Information - 1 - - 1 
			 Centrica Energy - - 1 - 1 
			 Committee on Climate Change - 1 - - 1 
			 ConocoPhillips (UK) Ltd - 1 - - 1 
			 Costain Ltd 1 - - - 1 
			 Deloitte LLP 1 - - - 1 
			 Durham University - - 1 - 1 
			 EDF 1 - - - 1 
			 Elexon - 1 - 1 2 
			 Energus - 1 1 - 2 
			 Energy People Ltd - 1 - - 1 
			 EnergySolutions 1 - - - 1 
			 Environment Agency - 1 - 1 2 
			 Ernst and Young LLP - 1 - - 1 
			 ESB International - - 1 - 1 
			 Health and Safety Executive - 1 2 - 3 
			 Identity and Passport Service 2 2 - - 4 
		
	
	
		
			 Intellectual Property Office 1 1 - - 2 
			 Jacobs Engineering - - 1 - 1 
			 KPMG LLP - 1 - - 1 
			 Legal Services Commission - - 1 - 1 
			 London Borough of Havering - - 1 - 1 
			 Met Office - - 1 - 1 
			 Mount Wellington Mine Ltd - 1 - - 1 
			 National Audit Office 2 - - - 2 
			 National Grid 1 2 2 1 6 
			 National Nuclear Laboratory - - 1 - 1 
			 National Policing Improvement Agency - 1 - - 1 
			 Nuclear Decommissioning Author - 1 - - 1 
			 Nuclear Graduates Scheme GENII - 1 - 1 2 
			 Office of the Public Guardian MOJ - 1 - - 1 
			 Ofgem - 8 3 1 12 
			 Pcubed - - 1 - 1 
			 Pinsent Masons LLP - 2 1 - 3 
			 Policy Studies Institute - 1 - - 1 
			 RET-Australia - 1 - - 1 
			 Rolls Royce - 1 1 1 3 
			 RWE Npower Renewables - - 1 - 1 
			 Scottish Government 1 1 - - 2 
			 Shell - - 1 1 2 
			 The Insolvency Service - - 2 - 2 
			 Tribunals Service - 1 - - 1 
			 UCL Energy Institute - - 1 - 1 
			 UK Border Agency 1 - - - 1 
			 Welsh Government - - 1 - 1 
			 Youth Justice Board 1 - - - 1 
			 Grand total 13 44 28 9 94

Sellafield

Margaret Ritchie: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assessment he has made of the review of the performance of Sellafield Nuclear Reprocessing Plant produced by KPMG Chartered Accountants Group for the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority; and if he will make a statement.

Michael Fallon: The KPMG report provided an independent review of performance at Sellafield Ltd in the first five year period under the ownership of Nuclear Management Partners. It was commissioned by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority to help inform its decision on whether to extend the contract.

Solar Power

Lorely Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what steps he is taking to ensure that solar PV is appropriately sited.

Gregory Barker: Inappropriately sited solar PV is something that the Government are determined to prevent.
	Our planning guidance gives clear advice on the appropriate siting of renewable energy developments, including solar PV. I have personally written to local authorities to emphasise this, and am working with the industry to support the development of new best practice.
	Furthermore, the solar strategy, to be published in the spring, will set out our policy on appropriate siting of solar PV in even greater detail.

TREASURY

Minimum Wage

William Bain: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many members of staff in HM Revenue and Customs were involved in enforcement of the National Minimum Wage Act 1998 and its associated delegated legislation in each of the last four years.

David Gauke: The Government take the enforcement of NMW very seriously. In addition to reviewing every complaint that is referred to them by the Pay and Work Rights Helpline, HMRC carry out targeted enforcement where it identifies a high risk of non-payment of NMW. The value of penalties charged has increased by 41% between 2012-13 and 2009-10.
	The total number of HMRC staff who were involved in the enforcement of the National Minimum Wage Act in each of the last six financial years is shown in the following table. Please note that the number shown includes staff who have left in that year.
	
		
			 Financial year Number of NMW staff involved in NMW enforcement 
			 2008-09 149 
			 2009-10 154 
			 2010-11 159 
			 2011-12 162 
			 2012-13 173 
			 2013-14 (to December) 181 
		
	
	Staff across HMRC contribute to enforcing the NMW, including people who work in legal advice, debt management, technical support and criminal investigation, but HMRC does not record the specific numbers of those staff involved, beyond those identified above.

Minimum Wage: North West

Paul Maynard: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many employees in Blackpool North and Cleveleys constituency are paid below the national minimum wage rates for those 21 years old and under.

David Gauke: The Government take the enforcement of NMW very seriously and HMRC enforce the national minimum wage legislation on behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and has done so since the introduction of NMW in April 1999. It does that by investigating all complaints made about employers suspected of not paying the minimum wage, in addition carrying out targeted enforcement where it identifies a high risk of non-payment of NMW.
	I refer my hon. Friend to the answers I gave on 6 January 2014, Official Report, column 162W, and on 11 November 2013, Official Report, column 465W, to the hon. Member for Vale of Clwyd (Chris Ruane). HMRC does not capture complaints or the outcomes of its investigations by reference to Government regions or country. Its management information relates to the work of teams who are multi-located. Because HMRC resources to risk, work relating to a specific geographical area is not always done by the NMW team based in that area.

National Insurance Contributions: West Midlands

Karen Lumley: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent assessment his Department has made of how the employment allowance will benefit businesses in the West Midlands.

David Gauke: From April 2014 every business and charity will be entitled to a £2,000 employment allowance to reduce their employer NICs bill each year. The allowance will reduce the costs of employment, supporting small businesses aspiring to grow by hiring their first employee or expanding their workforce.
	In the West Midlands, up to 101,000 employers will be able to benefit from the allowance in 2014-15, with 35,000 employers lifted out of NICs completely.

Tax Avoidance

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make an assessment of the extent of the use of engineered corporate insolvency to avoid paying tax liabilities in the UK.

David Gauke: HMRC does not at this time have an estimate of the losses suffered to the Exchequer from the use of engineered corporate insolvency which is commonly understood to include phoenixism through a liquidation or administration process.
	In estimating the Tax Gap HMRC have established that non-payment of debt amounts to 12% (£4.4 billion) of that gap and that a large proportion of this is attributable to insolvency. HMRC are currently looking at ways to identify how much of the tax gap relates to engineered or contrived insolvency.
	To combat engineered insolvency we have invested additional funding of £2.1 million in HMRC under the spending review 2010 to provide additional legal resources and training for 80 staff in the use of civil recovery processes which includes identifying and lodging claims (in conjunction with the liquidator) against directors who have breached their fiduciary duties to their companies. HMRC aims to deliver additional benefits to the Exchequer of £177 million from this investment over the three year spending review period to 2015.

ENVIRONMENT FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Air Pollution

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what information his Department has collected on air quality in (a) Coventry, (b) the West Midlands and (c) each region of the UK.

Dan Rogerson: DEFRA operates approximately 300 monitoring sites across the UK. 130 of these are part of the Automatic Urban and Rural Network (AURN) and each collects and reports hourly information on some or all of the following pollutants: ozone (O3), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulphur dioxide (SO2), carbon monoxide (CO), particulate matter of up to 2.5 microns in diameter (PM2.5) and particulate matter of up to 10 microns in diameter (PM10). In addition, there are 11 non-automatic networks that collect data for a range of other pollutants including hydrocarbons, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), metals, black carbon, acid deposition and ammonia.
	There are 16 DEFRA-operated monitoring sites in the West Midlands. Nine of these gather information as part of the AURN; four monitor hydrocarbons, two monitor black carbon, two monitor metals, one monitors PAHs, one monitors acid deposition, one monitors acid gas and aerosol and four monitor ammonia.
	Coventry has one DEFRA monitoring site operated under the AURN.
	Details and monitoring information for all these sites and pollutants is available on the UK-air website at:
	http://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/
	Data from UK-wide modelling of air quality are also available on this site.
	In addition to information on air quality collected from the above networks, local authorities in the UK have a responsibility to review and assess local air quality and to prepare reports of local air quality. DEFRA is provided with this information.

Bovine Tuberculosis

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when he expects to receive the report by the Independent Expert Panel assessing the badger cull pilots.

George Eustice: The Independent Expert Panel continues to consider the results of the pilots and prepare its report. As an independent body the timing of its report's completion and submission to Ministers is ultimately a matter for them.

Procurement

Christopher Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what weighting his Department's procurement procedures give to (a) the location of a company and its workforce, (b) the extent to which a company has a strong environmental record, (c) whether the company is a social enterprise and (d) other company history prior performance.

Dan Rogerson: Core DEFRA's procurement policy is to award contracts on the basis of value for money, which means the optimum combination of cost and quality over the lifetime of the project. Public sector procurers are required to assess value for money from the perspective of the contracting authority, using criteria linked to the subject matter of the contract, including compliance with the published specification. Such criteria cannot include supplier type or location.
	Wider socio-economic criteria can be taken into account at tender evaluation stage if they relate directly to the subject matter of a contract from the point of view of the contracting authority.

Procurement

Christopher Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many and what value of contracts procured by his Department in the last five years was carried out below EU thresholds.

Dan Rogerson: Core DEFRA does not hold consistent contract information for contracts awarded by core DEFRA prior to 1 April 2009. The data for later years are shown in the following table.
	
		
			 Financial year Number of contracts Value of contracts (£) 
			 2009-10 163 6,282,408.70 
			 2010-11 119 3,060,095.90 
			 2011-12 76 2,308,978.45 
			 2012-13 114 3,386,526.94 
			 Grand total 472 15,038,009.99 
		
	
	The information provided above excludes (a) research spending, which is not subject to the EU thresholds, and (b) any procurement through frameworks with a value above the EU thresholds.

Procurement

Christopher Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what proportion of his Department's contracts have been let to companies with (a) one to five, (b) six to 49, (c) 50 to 250 and (d) more than 250 staff.

Dan Rogerson: Core DEFRA is committed to increasing its direct and indirect spend with SMEs. However, we do not hold information on supplier staff numbers.

Procurement

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what proportion of his Department's overall procurement spend for each of the previous three financial years was (a) spent on joint procurement exercises with other Departments and (b) shared between different organisations within the same department group.

Dan Rogerson: holding answer 15 January 2014
	The data requested are shown in the following table:
	
		
			 Percentage 
			  (a) (b) 
			 2010-11 6.3 35.4 
			 2011-12 6.3 35.6 
			 2012-13 8.9 33.5

Procurement

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much and what value of his Department's procurement was conducted using e-procurement tools in each of the last three financial years.

Dan Rogerson: The information requested for core DEFRA is in the following table.
	
		
			 Financial year Number of contracts Value of contracts (£) 
			 2010-11 (>£25,000) 98 37,456,097.92 
			 2011-12 (>£25,000) 82 17,333,214.44 
			 2012-13 (>£10,000) 159 45,557,749.34 
			 Total 339 100,347,061.70 
		
	
	These figures exclude direct awards under framework agreements and single tender actions. Also excluded are research contracts due to inconsistencies in the recording of contracts in the earlier years.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Assets

Geraint Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will list each item valued at more than £500 of assets impaired as a result of his decision to discontinue the Enquiry Service facilities as set out in his Department's recent annual report and accounts.

Esther McVey: The list of asset items valued at £500 or more, impaired as a result of the decision to discontinue the Enquiry Service is as follows:
	Asset
	IT Upgrades
	Inquiry Service R11.3 (software upgrade)
	Bereavement (IT development)
	Inquiry (IT development)
	Process Management (IT development)
	Update (IT development)
	Update Software Environments
	JSA deductions (IT development)
	Seagull (Legasuite IT Development)
	Update (IT Development)
	DWP Enquiry Service (Telephony)
	BT Proposal Work TCC (Telephony)
	T-IDV
	Appointment booking (IT development)
	BT milestone (Telephony)
	Inquiry (IT development)
	Inquiry Service (IT development)
	Environments BT TIE (Telephony)
	Software environments update
	Enhanced Transmission Service
	Elements 2.1 (IT development)
	Assets in Course of Construction
	Software licenses
	CAMlite (IT development)

Child Support Agency

Pauline Latham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps he is taking to ensure members of the public receive a better service from the Child Support Agency.

Steve Webb: Ongoing efforts to address inefficiencies have seen the performance of the 1993 and 2003 schemes run by the Child Support Agency (CSA) significantly improve in recent years. The number of children benefiting, maintenance outcomes and the amount of maintenance collected have all increased, while the number of complaints received has decreased. For example, four out of five parents who use the CSA are now paying some child maintenance for their children, where five years ago it was just two out of three.
	The latest Child Support Agency Quarterly Summary of Statistics documents these changes:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/259738/csa_qtr_summ_stats_sep13.pdf

Employment and Support Allowance

Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the total spend on employment and support allowance has been in each month of the last five years in (a) Birmingham, Hall Green constituency, (b) Birmingham and (c) England.

Esther McVey: Monthly benefit expenditure is not available below Great Britain level. However estimates of annual expenditure at parliamentary constituency, local authority and England level can be found in our published benefit expenditure tables via the following link:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/benefit-expenditure-and-caseload-tables-2013

Employment and Support Allowance: York

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  pursuant to the answers of 19 December 2013, Official Report, column 758W, on jobseeker's allowance: Yorkshire and the Humber and 19 December 2013, Official Report, column 756W, on employment and support allowance: Yorkshire and the Humber, how many people living in the City of York receiving employment and support allowance were moved from the support group to the work-related group; of those how many sought a review of that decision; and of those seeking a review how many were (a) moved back to the support group as a consequence of the review, (b) not moved back to the support group as a consequence of the review and (c) are still awaiting the decision on their request for review in October 2012 and each month since then;
	(2)  pursuant to the answer of 19 December 2013, Official Report, column 758W, on employment and support allowance: Yorkshire and the Humber, how many people living in the City of York receiving employment and support allowance were moved from the support group to the work-related group; of those how many sought a review of that decision; and of those seeking a review how many were (a) moved back to the support group as a consequence of the review, (b) not moved back to the support group as a consequence of the review and (c) are still awaiting the decision on their request for review in October 2012 and each month since then;
	(3)  pursuant to the answers of 19 December 2013, Official Report, column 758W, on jobseeker's allowance: Yorkshire and the Humber and 19 December 2013, Official Report, column 756W, on employment and support allowance: Yorkshire and the Humber, how many people receiving employment and support allowance in the City of York were moved (a) from the support group to the work-related group and (b) from the work-related group to the support group in each month since October 2012.

Esther McVey: I refer the hon. Member to the written answer I gave him on 9 January 2014, Official Report, columns 280-81W.

Housing Benefit

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what discussions he has had with his colleagues in the Department for Communities and Local Government on the effect of the High Court ruling on housing benefit eligibility for rough sleepers who use night shelters.

Steve Webb: None. The High Court ruled that, in the specific circumstances of the case, the night shelter did not constitute a dwelling occupied as a home. As such, the claimant did not qualify for housing benefit. The housing benefit regulations do not refer to night shelters. Housing benefit remains payable to people whose accommodation, including that called shelters for rough sleepers, meets the requirements of the regulations.

Housing Benefit

Toby Perkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the abolition of housing benefit on the Government's child poverty targets.

Steve Webb: Housing support for working age people will be incorporated into universal credit and qualifying households will continue to receive support with their housing costs through the housing element.
	Around 3 million households will gain from universal credit, with the average gain being £177 a month. 300,000 individuals are expected to move into work as a result of universal credit, through improved financial incentives to work, increased simplicity of the system and increased conditionality.
	The Government remain committed to ending child poverty in the UK. We need measures that provide a more accurate picture of the reality of child poverty and drive the right action. Government have consulted on how best to measure child poverty. The complexity of the issue means that we need to take time to ensure we have the best measure of child poverty and we will publish our response as soon as we can.

Housing Benefit: Brent

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many households in (a) the London borough of Brent and (b) Brent Central constituency are in receipt of local housing allowance for (i) shared accommodation, (ii) one bedroom properties, (iii) two bedroom properties, (iv) three bedroom properties and (v) four bedroom properties.

Steve Webb: The information requested is shown in the following table.
	
		
			 Housing benefit recipients Entitled Bedrooms (LHA only), August 2013 
			  Brent local authority Brent Central constituency 
			 Shared accommodation 1,982 1,161 
			 1 bedroom 4,394 2,884 
			 2 bedrooms 5,200 2,861 
			 3 bedrooms 2,441 1,208 
			 4 bedrooms 1,281 660 
		
	
	This information can be found at:
	https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk
	Guidance on how to extract the information required can be found at:
	https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Stat-Xplore_User_Guide.htm

Housing Benefit: Social Rented Housing

Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what savings to the public purse have accrued as a result of the under-occupancy penalty in each month since its introduction from (a) Birmingham, Hall Green constituency (b) Birmingham and (c) England.

Esther McVey: The intention of this policy is to ensure fairer use of housing stock.
	DWP estimates that the removal of the spare room subsidy policy will save approximately £490 million across GB in 2013-14.
	Estimates of savings are not available below national level. Monthly statistics on the numbers of claimants subject to a reduction, and the average weekly reduction, are available through Stat-Xplore at the following link:
	https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/

Housing Benefit: Social Rented Housing

Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in Birmingham, Hall Green constituency have been incorrectly charged an under-occupancy penalty.

Esther McVey: The information requested is not available.

Housing Benefit: Social Rented Housing

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people have won appeals against loss of housing benefit under the Removal of the Spare Room Subsidy on the grounds that their eligible rent should have been determined in accordance with regulations 12 and 13 as set out in paragraph 5 of Schedule 3 to the Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit (Consequential Provisions) Regulations 2006 to date.

Esther McVey: The Department is only aware of one successful first-tier tribunal case.
	First-tier tribunal decisions only apply to the particular case in question. They do not set a precedent and do not apply to any other claimant even if their circumstances are the same.
	Local authorities have however been issued with guidance to inform them how housing benefit should be calculated if a claimant has lived in the same property and has had continuous housing benefit since 1 January 1996.

Housing Benefit: Social Rented Housing

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many households containing at least one carer have been affected by the implementation of the under-occupancy charge in social housing in (a) the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral and (b) Birkenhead constituency.

Esther McVey: The information requested is not available.
	Live-in carers are provided for under the normal size criteria rules and will be allocated a bedroom.
	In addition an extra bedroom is allowed if the claimant or partner are disabled and require regular overnight care from a non-resident carer.
	For others living in the household who require overnight care from a non-resident carer the discretionary housing payment fund is available and funding for this has increased to £180 million for 2013-14.

Housing Benefit: Social Rented Housing

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many households in (a) the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, (b) Birkenhead constituency and (c) the UK which have held their tenancy continuously since 1996 have been affected by the implementation of the under-occupancy penalty in social housing; and if he will make a statement.

Esther McVey: The Removal of the Spare Room Subsidy applies even where the claimant has held a tenancy continuously since 1 January 1996 if they have not been in receipt of continuous housing benefit.
	It is estimated that nationally there are fewer than 5,000 cases that fall into these circumstances but we are unable to break this down to individual regions.

Jobseeker’s Allowance: York

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the answers of 19 December 2013, Official Report, column 758W, on jobseeker's allowance: Yorkshire and the Humber and 19 December 2013, Official Report, column 756W, on employment and support allowance: Yorkshire and the Humber, how many people receiving jobseeker's allowance (JSA) in the City of York had their JSA withdrawn as a result of their alleged failure to comply with conditions laid down by his Department in October 2012 and each month since then.

Esther McVey: The information is tabled as follows:
	
		
			 Number of individuals with an adverse jobseeker's allowance (JSA) sanction decision in York local authority,22 October 2012 to 30 June 2013 
			  Number 
			 2012  
			 October 70 
			 November 180 
			 December 110 
			   
			 2013  
			 January 200 
			 February 160 
			 March 150 
			 April 130 
			 May 160 
			 June 140 
			 Notes: 1. Figures are rounded to the nearest ten. 2. Data are to 30 June 2013, which is the latest available information. 3. Figures may include individuals who have had more than one adverse sanction decision e.g. if an individual has a sanction applied in two different months, they will appear in each month above. 4. New sanctions rules came into force for JSA from 22 October 2012. The number of sanctions applied is the number of low, intermediate, and high level referrals where the decision was found against the claimant. Further information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/jobseekers-allowance-overview-of-sanctions-rules Source: DWP: Sanctions and Disallowance Decisions Statistics database.

Occupational Pensions: Cornwall

Sarah Newton: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in each parliamentary constituency in Cornwall have taken up auto-enrolment into a workplace pension to date.

Steve Webb: The information is not available in the format requested.
	The Pensions Regulator publishes monthly the volume of employers that have registered that they have met their duties along with the volume of workers automatically enrolled. As at 31 December 2013, 5,431 employers have registered with the Pensions Regulator that they have met the duties and more than 2.5 million workers have been automatically enrolled.
	Further information can be found at:
	http://www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/docs/automatic-enrolment-monthly-registration-report.pdf

Procurement

Christopher Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what weighting his Department's procurement procedures give to (a) the location of a company and its workforce, (b) the extent to which a company has a strong environmental record, (c) whether the company is a social enterprise and (d) other company history prior performance.

Michael Penning: DWP contracts are awarded in accordance with EU Directives and UK law on the basis of transparency, non-discrimination and equality. Therefore, DWP cannot, from a legal perspective, discriminate against any potential supplier on the basis of their organisation's legal status or location.
	It is the DWP vision to deliver best practice sustainable procurement, help deliver the required Government outcomes, ensure DWP contracts provide best value for money and that DWP can demonstrate continuous improvement against Government sustainable targets. Wider socio-economic criteria can be taken into account at tender evaluation stage if they relate directly to the subject matter of a contract from the point of view of the contracting authority. The DWP Sustainable Procurement Strategy is a key driver to ensuring that we specify sustainable goods and services wherever possible, and encourage best sustainable practice and development of a strong environmental record throughout our supply chains.
	A DWP policy has been developed which incorporates the principles of the Social Value Act which reaffirms the Department's commitment to meeting Government policy to mainstream social, economic and environmental sustainability across everything from core policy to operations and procurement.
	As required by Cabinet Office, DWP policy is to take into account bidder past performance when procuring information and communications technology, facilities management or business processing outsourcing with a total anticipated contract value of £20 million or greater. Supplier past performance over the previous three years is taken into account.

Procurement

Christopher Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many and of what value of contracts procured by his Department in the last five years was carried out below EU thresholds.

Michael Penning: This information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Procurement

Christopher Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of his Department's contracts have been let to companies with (a) one to five, (b) six to 49, (c) 50 to 250 and (d) more than 250 staff.

Michael Penning: This information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Procurement

Christopher Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion and value of his Department's contracts have been let (a) under the restricted procedure, (b) by the open procedure, (c) via framework agreements and (d) via a tendering process involving the use of a pre-qualification questionnaire in each of the last three years.

Michael Penning: The proportion and values of the Department's contracts are as follows:
	
		
			  2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 
			  % £ % £ % £ 
			 Restricted procedure 14.9 203,562,440 13.5 220,834,756 3.7 20,111,410 
			 Open procedure 13.1 3,250,743 7.7 889,234 37.4 16,732,066 
			 Framework agreements 69.0 429,837,785 69.8 4,076,165,967 43.7 1,398,023,686 
			 Pre-qualification questionnaire 17.3 203,732,100 17.3 3,181,969,734 16.8 174,427,900 
			 Notes: 1. An Open procedure is used when all suppliers who have responded to the Contract Notice are invited to tender. A Restricted procedure is used when only those suppliers who have been invited by the contracting authority may submit a tender. 2. The inclusion of contracts using pre-qualification questionnaires includes contracts that also used the Restricted procedure; thus these items are not mutually exclusive. 3. This question did not ask for data on the use of the Competitive Dialogue or the Negotiated procedures which accounts for the remaining % of contracts not included under the Restricted and Open procedures and in the use of framework agreements.

Procurement

Christopher Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions for each of the last three financial years how much and what proportion of the Department's procurement was conducted using e-procurement tools; and what the value of such contracts was.

Michael Penning: In 2011-12 there were 41 procurements undertaken using e-procurement tools with a Contract value of £5,256,269,346.
	In 2012-13 there were 60 procurements undertaken using e-procurement tools with a Contract value of £697,915,623.
	In 2013 to present there were 126 procurements undertaken using e-procurement tools with a Contract value of £132,352,981.
	The remainder of the information will be placed in the Library.

Social Security

Simon Danczuk: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether it is his policy to conduct a review of local discretionary welfare provision in May 2014.

Steve Webb: It has always been our intention to carry out a review about the way local authorities have used the funding. We are still making the arrangements with local authorities about the review and its findings and a copy of the findings will be placed in the House Library.

Social Security Benefits

Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the total amount of (a) jobseeker's allowance and (b) any other benefits withheld in sanctions was in each month of the last five years in (i) Birmingham, Hall Green constituency, (ii) Birmingham and (iii) England.

Esther McVey: It is not possible to estimate the total amount of benefit withheld due to sanctions as we do not know what would have happened had the sanction not been applied. Some people would have flowed off benefit in the period of the sanction and they might have flowed off benefit had they not received a sanction. Furthermore we do not have reliable data on duration for sanctions of variable length.

Social Security Benefits: Polygamy

Andrew Stephenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what progress he has made in preventing payments of benefits to people in polygamous relationships.

Esther McVey: The Government have decided that universal credit, which replaces means-tested benefits and tax credits for working-age people, will not recognise polygamous marriages. Instead, the husband and wife who are party to the earliest marriage that still subsists can make a joint claim for universal credit in the same way as any other couple. Any other adults living in the household would each have to claim as a single person on the basis of their own circumstances. This process already happens where a polygamous marriage is not recognised in UK law.

Social Security Benefits: Veterans

Chris Williamson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether he plans to disregard income provided to former service personnel in respect of injuries they received while serving in the armed forces when making social security benefit assessments.

Esther McVey: War Disablement Pensions and guaranteed income payments from the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme are to be fully disregarded in universal credit. There are no plans to make any changes to the treatment of these payments in other benefits.

Social Security Benefits: York

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the answers of 19 December 2013, Official Report, column 758W, on jobseeker's allowance: Yorkshire and the Humber and 19 December 2013, Official Report, column 756W, on employment and support allowance: Yorkshire and the Humber, how many people living in the City of York were receiving (a) jobseeker's allowance, (b) employment and support allowance support group and (c) employment and support allowance work-related group in (i) October 2012 and (ii) each month since then.

Esther McVey: I refer the hon. Member to the written answer I gave him on 9 January 2014, Official Report, column 283W.

Universal Credit

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when his Department intends to fill its current vacancies for software developers in its digital service and to build universal credit endstate system and other software projects.

Esther McVey: We have already set out our overall plan to strengthen our capability in this area—15 January 2014, Official Report, column 587W. The necessary recruitment is under way, and we intend to progress this work as quickly as possible.

Universal Credit

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in his Department are working on software for each of the universal credit IT systems currently planned.

Esther McVey: There are currently around 50 staff delivering the IT within the universal credit programme.

Universal Credit

Alasdair McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many private sector developers are being paid a salary rate of more than (a) £50,000 per year and (b) £100,000 per year for their work on developing the IT system for universal credit.

Esther McVey: IT development work on universal credit is primarily delivered by suppliers through existing contracts and agreed rate cards. These rate cards are competitive, and value for money. The Department does not have access to salary information for those individuals.

Universal Credit

Alasdair McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much his Department has paid to private sector companies to develop the universal credit system; and what his projection is for IT spending on the project in each of the next five years.

Esther McVey: The information is as follows:
	(a) The amounts that have been paid to each IT service provider are contained within the NAO report, Universal Credit: Early progress, HC 621, published on 5 September 2013.
	(b) The total cost of the consultants employed on the universal credit programme in each of the last three years is as follows: £5.6 million in 2011-12 and £3.2 million in 2012-13.
	There was no consultancy expenditure in 2010-11 recorded against the universal credit programme.
	(c) Costs for any future development remain subject to ongoing commercial discussions.

Universal Credit: Redditch

Karen Lumley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he expects benefit claimants in Redditch constituency to move on to universal credit.

Esther McVey: The Secretary of State set out the plans for the next stage of delivery of universal credit on 5 December 2013.
	Our current planning assumption is that the universal credit service will be fully available in each part of Great Britain during 2016, with the majority of the legacy benefit claimant caseload moving to universal credit during 2016 and 2017.

Work Capability Assessment: Devon

Gary Streeter: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  what estimate he has made of average waiting times for ATOS work capability assessments in Plymouth and Devon; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  if he will impose a maximum waiting period of eight weeks on Atos work capability assessments in Plymouth and Devon.

Michael Penning: Average waiting times data for work capability assessments are not available for the geographical area stated. The national average waiting time (days) for both employment and support allowance and incapacity benefit reassessments in the regional group of Bristol (which includes Plymouth and Devon) is 78.1 days.
	Following the overhaul of Atos Healthcare's audit arrangements, their work force have undergone a process of retraining and re-accreditation. The increased focus on quality has had an impact on waiting times for work capability assessments across the country.
	There is no intention to make a variation to those standards, including imposing a maximum waiting period of eight weeks for Plymouth and Devon.
	DWP continually monitors the effectiveness of Atos Healthcare's performance in line with the contractual standards contained within the Medical Services Agreement. There is no intention to make a variation to those standards.

TRANSPORT

Bus Services: Concessions

John Woodcock: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has made of take-up rate of free pensioner bus passes in each local authority area.

Stephen Hammond: The Department for Transport's annual survey of local authorities which are Travel Concession Authorities (TCAs) shows the take-up of bus passes in each TCA by older people entitled to concessionary travel. The results are published in Table BUS0822 at the following link:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/bus08-concessionary-travel

Driving: Licensing

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when the guidance from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency and the Drivers Medical Group on the process for the restoration of driving licences given to drivers contemplating voluntary surrender of licence was last revised.

Stephen Hammond: The guidance provided through information letters was last assessed and changed in April 2013. The information provided on the website was last amended in October 2012.
	The letters and the website are currently being reviewed to ensure that the information contained is accurate and is helpful to customers.

Driving: Licensing

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the accuracy and completeness of the guidance from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency to drivers contemplating voluntary surrender of driving licences.

Stephen Hammond: The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency is currently reviewing this information to ensure it is accurate, complete and helpful to customers.

Driving: Licensing

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the service level agreement is between his Department and DVLA on processing times for applications to restore driving licences following temporary voluntary surrender of licence following a health-related incident.

Stephen Hammond: The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) is subject to customer service targets set by the Secretary of State for Transport.
	The target for restoring a driving licence following temporary voluntary surrender is to make a decision in 90% of cases within 90 days. This allows time for the DVLA to obtain information from external medical professionals where necessary.

Driving: Licensing

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when his Department last reviewed the effectiveness of the relationship between the Drivers Medical Group and NHS professionals in processing applications for restoration of driving licences following temporary voluntary surrender.

Stephen Hammond: The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) keeps all its working practices regarding the handling of medical investigations under constant review. This is done in order to minimise the time scales for reaching a licensing decision and the impact on customers.

East Coast Railway Line

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what representations he has received in the last 12 months supporting the privatisation of the East Coast rail franchise.

Stephen Hammond: The Secretary of State regularly meets with stakeholders from across the rail industry, including bidding and prospective bidding companies, and industry groups, where they have discussed the benefits of the privatised model of rail service provision, including for the Intercity East Coast franchise. The Department has also received applications to pre-qualify to tender for the franchise. This supports the view that franchising is a fundamentally sound approach for the provision of passenger rail services in Great Britain.

East Coast Railway Line

Graeme Morrice: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  what plans he has to consult the business community and other key stakeholders on tendering of the East Coast Mainline rail franchise;
	(2)  what plans he has to consult passengers and other key stakeholders on the tendering of the East Coast Mainline rail franchise;
	(3)  what plans he has to consult Scottish businesses and other key Scottish stakeholders on the Government's plans for the East Coast Mainline rail franchise.

Stephen Hammond: The Department has conducted a full public consultation on the provision of passenger services for the Intercity East Coast, and published a Consultation Summary Report for it when we published the OJEU notice and Prospectus on 25 October last year. This summary will be updated and published as a Stakeholder Briefing Document when the Invitation to Tender (ITT) is published in February.
	The Department is also working with Passenger Focus to conduct a survey of passengers and potential users of the East Coast Main Line; seeking their views and comments. The results of this will be provided to bidders for the franchise to make sure that the passenger voice is heard in this important competition.

East Coast Railway Line

Graeme Morrice: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he expects to take a decision on future franchise arrangements for the East Coast Mainline.

Stephen Hammond: The Franchising Programme published by the Secretary of State for Transport last March set out that the next East Coast Franchise will start in February 2015. A decision on an award of the franchise is expected to be made in October this year.

East Coast Railway Line

Graeme Morrice: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if maintenance of current staff levels on East Coast Mainline services will be part of any future franchising agreement.

Stephen Hammond: Future staffing will be a matter for the new franchise.

East Coast Railway Line

Graeme Morrice: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the cost of refranchising the East Coast Mainline service has been to date.

Stephen Hammond: Since the Franchising Programme was restarted in spring 2013, spend to date on the InterCity East Coast Franchise project totals £2.84 million. This is in line with the expected costs of other franchising projects taking into account recommendations made in Richard Brown's Review into Rail Franchising. The actual spend will be published annually in our departmental accounts.

East Coast Railway Line

Graeme Morrice: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps his Department has taken to establish current levels of satisfaction with East Coast Mainline services.

Stephen Hammond: Passenger Focus consults more than 50,000 passengers a year to produce the National Passenger Survey (NPS) which provides a network-wide picture of passengers' satisfaction with rail travel.
	Passenger opinions of train services are collected twice a year from a representative sample of journeys.
	Passengers' overall satisfaction and satisfaction with 30 specific aspects of service can, therefore, be compared over time.
	The results are published by Passenger Focus for each operator so direct comparison(s) can be made.

East Coast Railway Line

Graeme Morrice: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many (a) officials, (b) staff of executive agencies and (c) consultants are working full or part-time in the Government's proposals to privatise East Coast Mainline services; and what the cost of their work is to date.

Stephen Hammond: The core InterCity East Coast franchising team consists of 15 officials, who are wholly dedicated to the project. They are supported on an ad hoc basis by relevant officials from across the Department who provide specialist advice. The Department has also contracted with financial, legal and technical advisers who provide specialist advice when required. Since the Franchising programme was restarted in spring 2013, spend to date on the InterCity East Coast Franchise project totals £2.84 million.

East Coast Railway Line

Graeme Morrice: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what guarantees on passenger fares will be required from companies tendering for East Coast Mainline services.

Stephen Hammond: The new operator of the InterCity East Coast will be required to set fares in line with national fares policy.

East Coast Railway Line

Graeme Morrice: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment his Department has made of performance levels on east coast main line services by each of the two previous operators.

Stephen Hammond: The agreements between the Government and previous operators of the east coast main line included benchmarks in key areas. The Department monitored the previous franchise operators' overall performance against these areas every four weeks and there were clear actions set out in the agreements if such performance dropped below what was contracted. This regular monitoring included monthly meetings with the senior management of the previous operators where performance figures were scrutinised and challenged.

East Coast Railway Line

Graeme Morrice: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps his Department has taken to seek public and passenger views on the Government's plans to privatise east coast main line services.

Stephen Hammond: The Department for Transport has conducted a full consultation on the provision of passenger services on the InterCity East Coast and published a Consultation Summary Report for it when we published the OJEU notice and Prospectus on 25 October 2013.
	The Department has not consulted on the decision to conduct a competition to re-let the operation of passenger services to a private sector operator.

East Coast Railway Line

Graeme Morrice: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment his Department has made of current performance levels on east coast main line services.

Stephen Hammond: The agreement between the Government and each individual train operator includes benchmarks in key areas. The Department monitors each train operator's overall performance against these areas every four weeks and there are clear actions set out in the agreement should performance drop below what is contracted. This regular monitoring includes monthly meetings with their senior management where performance figures are scrutinised and challenged. Where any non-compliance is discovered, Department officials will follow the steps set out in the enforcement policy, which is available online at:
	http://assets.dft.gov.uk/publications/enforcement-policy-rail-franchise-agreements-and-closures/enforcementpolicy.pdf

High Speed 2 Railway Line

Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the answer of 22 October 2013, Official Report, column 123W, on High Speed 2, which individuals engaged by HS2 Ltd are still engaged via personal service companies.

Robert Goodwill: Pursuant to the answer provided on 22 October 2013, Official Report, column 123W, HS2 Ltd engage 36 people through Personal Service Companies.

High Speed 2 Railway Line

Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what public relations, media or communications organisations, companies or individuals not directly employed by HS2 Ltd or his Department have been contracted to work on High Speed 2; and how much has been paid to them to date.

Robert Goodwill: The Department and HS2 Ltd have contracted the following external organisations and made the following payments for the provision of public relations, media or communications advice to HS2 since the company was set up through to December 2013.
	
		
			  £ 
			 DfT  
			 Westbourne Communications 23,952 
			   
			 HS2 Ltd  
			 Westbourne Communications Ltd 328,874 
			 MHP Communications Ltd 37,080

High Speed 2 Railway Line

Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport with reference to section 7.10 of the non-technical summary of the London-West Midlands Environmental Statement published in November 2013, how many people are available along the route who could take advantage of preferment for employment.

Robert Goodwill: HS2 will provide employment opportunities for people with a wide range of skills and these would be openly available, including to those who live close to the proposed route. HS2 will not only help businesses expand, creating employment, it will also give young people opportunities to get new skills, get a job and a career.

Procurement

Christopher Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what weighting his Department's procurement procedures give to (a) the location of a company and its workforce, (b) the extent to which a company has a strong environmental record, (c) whether the company is a social enterprise and (d) other company history prior performance.

Stephen Hammond: The Department for Transport's procurement policy is to award contracts on the basis of value for money, which means the optimum combination of cost and quality over the lifetime of the project. Public sector procurers are required to assess value for money from the perspective of the contracting authority, using criteria linked to the subject matter of the contract, including compliance with the published specification. Such criteria cannot include supplier type or location.
	Wider socio-economic criteria can be taken into account at tender evaluation stage if they relate directly to the subject matter of a contract from the point of view of the contracting authority.

Procurement

Christopher Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many and of what value of contracts procured by his Department in the last five years were carried out below EU thresholds.

Stephen Hammond: The Department does not hold the information by financial year for the entire DFT group. Where this information is not held by financial year, we have shown the total figures for the full five year period. The following table shows a breakdown of these figures, but excludes DSA (Driving Standards Agency) and VCA (Vehicle Certification Agency) as they do not record this data.
	
		
			 Category Financial year Value of contracts procured (£) Number of contracts let per financial year below EU thresholds 
			 DFT 2008-09 3,983,993.00 25 
			  2009-10 3,977,819.00 62 
			  2010-11 1,394,124.00 29 
			  2011-12 2,695,208.00 45 
			  2012-13 3,608,838.00 91 
			 Total Combined years 15,659,982.00 252 
			     
			 DVLA 2008-09 316,600.00 7 
			  2009-10 1,430,454.00 29 
			  2010-11 663,867.00 23 
			  2011-12 508,602.00 17 
			  2012-13 782,239.00 35 
			 Total Combined years 3,701,762.00 111 
			     
			 HA Combined years 93,812,961.00 339 
			     
			 MCA Combined years 40,447,755.87 1,764 
			     
			 VOSA Combined years 11,225,826.25 435 
			     
			 Total — 164,848,287.12 3,252

Procurement

Christopher Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what proportion of his Department's contracts have been let to companies with (a) one to five, (b) six to 49, (c) 50 to 250 and (d) more than 250 staff.

Stephen Hammond: The Department for Transport is committed to increasing its direct and indirect spend with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). However, we do not hold information on supplier staff numbers that would answer the question to the level of detail specified.
	I am, however, also able to confirm that the Department's current proportion of procurement expenditure with SMEs is 18%.

Procurement

Christopher Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what proportion and value of his Department's contracts have been let (a) under the restricted procedure, (b) by the open procedure, (c) via framework agreements and (d) via a tendering process involving the use of a pre-qualification questionnaire in each of the last three years.

Stephen Hammond: The Department does not hold all the data requested, however the information that the Department does hold is presented in the following tables.
	
		
			 DFT (C) 
			  Restricted procedure Open procedure Framework agreements Tendering process involving the use of a pre-qualification questionnaire Total value and number of contracts let 
			 2010-11      
			 Number — — — — 10 
			 Value (£) — — — — — 
			       
			 2011-12      
			 Number 2 — 7 — 43 
			 Value (£) 2,250,000 — 784,250 — — 
			       
			 2012-13      
			 Number 5 1 9 — 62 
			 Value (£) 9,668,240 1,039,733 2,562,152 — — 
		
	
	
		
			 Driver Vehicle Licensing Agency 
			  Restricted procedure Open procedure Framework agreements Tendering process involving the use of a pre-qualification questionnaire Total value and number of contracts let 
			 2011      
			 Number 6 — 20 — 26 
			 Value (£) 7,238,615 — 5,665,193 — 12,903,808 
			       
			 2012      
			 Number 6 — 18 — 24 
			 Value (£) 15,964,234 — 76,122,343 — 92,086,577 
			       
			 2013      
			 Number 1 — 13 — 14 
			 Value (£) 36,000,000 — 3,402,096 — 39,402,096 
		
	
	
		
			 Highways Agency 
			  Restricted procedure Open procedure Framework agreements Tendering process involving the use of a pre-qualification questionnaire Total value and number of contracts let 
			 2011      
			 Number 23 1 41 — 65 
			 Value (£) 980,377,937 1,820,000 666,069 — 982,864,006 
			       
			 2012      
			 Number 15 — 101 — 116 
			 Value (£) 2,210,032,679 — 10,450,632 — 2,220,483,311 
			       
			 2013      
			 Number 9 2 142 — 153 
			 Value (£) 2,560,853,883 37,062,880 16,537,172 — 2,614,453,935 
		
	
	
		
			 Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) 
			  Restricted procedure Open procedure Framework agreements Tendering process involving the use of a pre-qualification questionnaire Total value and number of contracts let 
			 2011      
			 Number 2 — 65 — 67 
			 Value (£) 3,420,000 — 4,666,674 — 8,086,674 
			       
			 2012      
			 Number 2 — 15 — 17 
			 Value (£) 2,750,000 — 3,429,779 — 6,179,779 
			       
			 2013      
			 Number 1 3 50 — 54 
		
	
	
		
			 Value (£) 1,110,000 850,000 7,108,451 — 9,068,451 
		
	
	
		
			 Driving Standards Agency 
			  Restricted procedure Open procedure Framework agreements Tendering process involving the use of a pre-qualification questionnaire Total value and number of contracts let 
			 2011      
			 Number — — 1— — — 
			 Value (£) — — — — — 
			       
			 2012      
			 Number 2 — 1— 2 4 
			 Value (£) 8,333,290 — — — 8,333,290 
			       
			 2013      
			 Number — 1 1— — 1 
			 Value (£) — 184,000,000 — — 184,000,000 
			 1 Not available.

Procurement

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much and what value of his Department's procurement was conducted using e-procurement tools in each of the last three financial years.

Stephen Hammond: The following tables provide detail of the information, where held, by the Department in relation to the value and number of e-procurement exercises conducted over the last three financial years.
	
		
			 Financial year 2010-11 
			  Number Value (£) 
			 HA 44 152,019,996 
			 Total 44 152,019,996 
		
	
	
		
			 Financial Year 2011-12 
			  Number Value (£) 
			 HA 96 2,345,514,408 
			 VOSA 983 1,369,055 
			 Total 1,079 2,346,883,463 
		
	
	
		
			 Financial Year 2012-13 
			  Number Value (£) 
			 DFT C 187 52,459 
			 DVLA 586 93,464 
			 DSA 130 8,713 
			 MCA 2 524,830 
			 HA 62 2,010,773,780 
			 VOSA 7,474 46,231,201 
			 Total 8,441 2,057,529,812

Railway Signals

Mary Creagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans his Department made ahead of the rollout of European Rail Track Management System (ERTMS) signalling across the rail network; what assessment he has made of the cost of introducing ERTMS signalling; and what assessment he has made of the timescale for the rollout of ERTMS signalling.

Stephen Hammond: Network Rail is leading the industry deployment of ERTMS, and is being funded during the next Control Period (2014-19) to deliver a coordinated program of work. They have based the rollout of ERTMS on a positive business case, based upon the infrastructure cost efficiencies that ERTMS delivers.
	The Department supports the industry-led program of work and recognises the benefits that ERTMS brings.

Railway Stations: Disability

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what funding his Department has allocated to programmes to make stations more accessible for people with disabilities; and if he will publish details of each such spending commitment.

Stephen Hammond: The Access for All Main, Mid-Tier and Small Schemes programmes support access improvements at stations.
	Since 2006, £388 million has been authorised for the Access for All Main programme to deliver an accessible route at more than 150 stations by 2015. Another £100 million has been allocated to extend this until 2019.
	£37.5 million of Mid-Tier funding was allocated in 2011 to support a variety of access improvements under 42 projects covering around 160 stations. £7 million a year of Small Schemes funding is allocated to the train operating companies and since 2006 more than 1,100 stations have benefitted from this.
	Access for All funding is in addition to access improvements delivered under other major projects or funded by the train operators. Details of Main and Mid-Tier projects are published online by Network Rail and the Small Schemes by the train operators.

Railways

Graeme Morrice: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what consultations his Department plans with the public and passengers on the overall quality of rail provision in the UK.

Stephen Hammond: There are no current plans for consultation with the public and passengers on the overall quality of rail provision in the UK. The Department sponsors the independent body Passenger Focus to represent the views of passengers across the network. The Department for Transport intends to conduct public consultations in advance of the re-letting of each competed franchise.

Railways: Christmas

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make it his policy to require in future franchise tendering processes that train companies provide services on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

Stephen Hammond: Although the Department for Transport does not specify that train operators should run trains on Christmas day, it has specified a limited number of services on Boxing day on some franchises. The UK rail industry has in recent years used the Christmas period to undertake major disruptive engineering work on the rail network. If a franchised train operator can agree access to the rail network, then there is no reason why they cannot operate train services on Christmas day or Boxing day.

Railways: Fares

John Woodcock: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the cost of a single, standard class open rail ticket from Barrow-in-Furness to (a) London and (b) Manchester has been in each of the last five years.

Stephen Hammond: The costs of the single, standard class open rail ticket from Barrow-in-Furness to (a) London and (b) Manchester over the last five years are provided in the table. In addition, the fares for the five years before that are also shown. These fares are unregulated fares and train operators are permitted to set these on a commercial basis, taking account of competition from other transport modes and the need to attract business in order to grow their revenue.
	
		
			  Barrow in Furness to London (£) Percentage change from previous year Barrow in Furness to Manchester (£) Percentage change from previous year 
			 2005 100.50 — 18.40 — 
			 2006 108.50 +8 19.20 +4 
			 2007 117.50 +8 20.20 +5 
			 2008 123 +5 21.60 +7 
			 2009 132 +7 24.10 +12 
			 2010 140 +6 24.10 +0 
			 2011 149.50 +7 26.00 +8 
			 2012 158.50 +6 27.60 +6 
			 2013 165 +4 28.80 +4 
			 2014 172 +4 29.70 +3 
		
	
	The above table shows that the single standard class open rail ticket from Barrow-in-Furness to London increased by 29% in the four years from 2006 to 2010 compared to 23% in the four years from 2010 to 2014; and the single standard class open rail ticket from Barrow-in-Furness to Manchester increased by 26% in the four years from 2006 to 2010 compared to 23% in the four years from 2010 to 2014.

Railways: Franchises

Graeme Morrice: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what public consultations on rail franchising agreements have been held in the last 10 years.

Stephen Hammond: In the last 10 years the practice of the relevant franchising authority has been to consult upon franchises that have been competitively let. In this Government, the Department has undertaken public consultations on those franchises it has sought to re-let, as follows:
	An initial consultation was undertaken on the West Coast franchise between January and April 2011,
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/intercity-west-coast-franchise
	and a subsequent consultation based on the draft ITT took place between May and August 2011
	http://assets.dft.gov.uk/publications/intercity-west-coast-franchise/draft-invitation-to-tender-tender-invitation-document.pdf
	and
	https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/intercity-west-coast-draft-invitation-to-tender-itt-consultation
	The Department issued OJEU notices and PQQ papers in respect of three competitions in December 2011 and then undertook public consultations before issuing the ITT in each case.
	For Essex Thameside the consultation took place between February and May 2012, and the ITT was issued on 2 July 2012. The consultation can be found at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/essex-thameside-franchise-consultation
	For Great Western the consultation took place between December 2011 and March 2012 and the ITT was issued on 27 July 2012. The consultation is at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/great-western-franchise-replacement-consultation
	For TSGN (which involved some franchise remapping to include certain south eastern services) consultations took place between May and September 2012 (existing TSGN services) and June to September 2012 (South Eastern services). The consultations are at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/consultation-on-the-combined-thameslink-southern-and-great-northern-franchise
	(this also includes the Government response published on 26 September 2013) and
	https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/south-eastern-franchise-consultation
	Separately, for Intercity East Coast the consultation took place between June and September 2012. A Consultation Summary Report was published on 25 October last year when the OJEU notice was published. This summary will be updated and published as a Stakeholder Briefing Document when the ITT is published in February. The consultation can be found at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/intercity-east-coast-franchise-consultation

Railways: North West

John Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment his Department has made of the potential consequences arising from the proposed electrification of the Wigan to Bolton line for the use of diesel trains and rolling stock on the Northern Franchise operations in the Merseyside and Lancashire area.

Stephen Hammond: The electrification of the Wigan-Bolton line will enable electric trains to replace diesel trains on local services between Wigan and Manchester. The positive business case for electrification has taken account of the savings arising from this replacement and the consequent speeding up of services.

Railways: North West

John Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the effect on other connected lines would be of electrifying the Wigan to Bolton line.

Stephen Hammond: On 13 December 2013 the Government announced that the railway line between Wigan (North Western Station) and Bolton (Lostock Junction) will be electrified, at an estimated cost of £37 million.
	Service patterns on other connected lines will be considered during the consultation for the next Northern and Trans Pennine franchises which will take place later this year.

Railways: North West

John Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans for the electrification of the Wigan to Bolton line are currently planned by his Department.

Stephen Hammond: The railway line between Wigan (North Western station) and Bolton (Lostock Junction) will be electrified, at an estimated cost of £37 million and targeted for completion by 2017.

Unmanned Air Vehicles

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant, to the answer of 18 December 2013, Official Report, column 633W, on unmanned air vehicles, whether material is collated by the Cross-Government Working Group on Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems on use of such systems by state bodies or any state bodies in UK airspace.

Robert Goodwill: No material has been collated to date, but two Government Departments have given presentations to the Government Working Group on Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems on how they have made use of small remotely piloted aircraft systems to assist them with collecting data to support policy in their respective areas.

EDUCATION

Academies

Kelvin Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many (a) schools and (b) academies have established sixth forms since 2010; and what the cost to the public purse has been of establishing those sixth forms.

Edward Timpson: There have been 56 school sixth forms and 82 new academy sixth forms set up since September 2011. The Department for Education does not have records prior to 2011. The numbers of new sixth forms are as follows:
	
		
			 Year and type Number 
			 2011/12  
			 New school sixth forms 24 
			 New academy sixth forms 33 
			   
			 2012/13  
			 New school sixth forms 19 
			 New academy sixth forms 18 
			   
			 2013/14  
			 New school sixth forms 13 
			 New academy sixth forms 31 
		
	
	The cost of establishing a new sixth form is not identifiable as a single value. The Department is not able to report on the capital costs of establishing all new sixth forms since 2010, as these have been handled by a range of different bodies and capital programmes have not separated sixth form costs where, for example, a school was being rebuilt. The Department does not collect information on capital funds spent by local authorities or by academies on new sixth forms.

Children in Care: Employment

Margot James: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what the outcomes are of the from Care2Work programme to date; how the outcomes are measured; how many people that programme has supported; and how many such people are in work since receiving help.

Edward Timpson: The Government fund the voluntary sector organisation Catch22 to run the From Care2Work programme. The programme improves the employability opportunities for care leavers by providing advice, guidance and training to local authorities on how to support care leavers’ access work opportunities and working directly with national employers. Since 2009 the programme has worked with 150 local authorities and engaged with 119 employers.
	Over this period 14,000 young people have benefited from opportunities created as a result of From Care2Work support to local authorities. Monitoring reports from local authorities and information collected directly by the programme indicate that 2,500 young people have gained employment as a result of this programme.
	Catch22 collects data on activities by local authorities, outcomes of employability opportunities created and feedback from young people and staff engaged on the programme. These are published in annual reports; further information and impact assessments of the programme can be found online1.
	1 http://resources.leavingcare.org/uploads/607cec4aaf32ce77bd2d 7fed7b66ae5d.pdf
	http://resources.leavingcare.org/uploads/048c472b88c9a3f6c906a 46fb8b0e9ff.pdf
	http://resources.leavingcare.org/uploads/56c5508880e967150cd 45f95376583d4.pdf
	http://www.catch-22.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Impact-report-2012-2013.pdf

Further Education: Finance

Nicholas Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will publish an impact assessment in respect of his Department's decision to cut funding for 18-year-olds.

Matthew Hancock: We published an impact assessment on 13 January, which can be found here:
	http://media.education.gov.uk/assets/files/pdf/i/impact%20assessment.pdf

Kings Science Academy

David Ward: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what recent progress has been made by Kings Science Academy in the implementation of its improvement plan.

Edward Timpson: The improvement plan was agreed with Kings Science Academy in April 2013. A detailed follow- up review in July 2013 demonstrated that significant progress had been made. Progress continues to be made; the remaining outstanding issues are expected to be completed by the end of January 2014.

Kings Science Academy

David Ward: To ask the Secretary of State for Education 
	(1)  whether Alan Lewis had any responsibility for finance and governance at the Kings Science Academy in Bradford;
	(2)  what discussions his Department has had with Alan Lewis about financial management at the Kings Science Academy in Bradford.

Edward Timpson: The ongoing police investigation means that it would not be appropriate to release details of any departmental discussions at this time.

Kings Science Academy

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education whether the valuation of the site of Kings Science Academy, Bradford included the value of the buildings on the site.

Michael Gove: The Department for Education commissioned an independent valuation of the site on behalf of Kings Science Academy. This included an assessment of the market rent of the leasehold interest of the site, the state of repair and condition of the property. It also gave the rent paid by the then tenants on the site.

Kings Science Academy

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what the provision has been to recover the capital investment made by his Department and the Education Funding Agency in the new premises at Kings Science Academy, Bradford at the end of the lease period.

Edward Timpson: The site of Kings Science Academy is secured on a 20-year lease due to expire in 2032. The Department's capital investment in that site is protected for the duration of the lease through provisions in the Secretary of State for Education's funding agreement with Kings Science Academy. These prevent the disposal of assets without the Secretary of State for Education's approval and allow the Secretary of State for Education to take ownership of the site in the event that the funding agreement is terminated. Under the terms of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954, Kings Science Academy has a statutory right to renew the lease at the end of the 20-year term. This ensures that the capital investment in the site can continue to benefit the local community for the lifespan of the building.

Kings Science Academy

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education whether Alan Lewis was present at any discussions of the site of Kings Science Academy, Bradford at meetings of the school's trustees.

Michael Gove: Meetings of academy trustees are the business of the academy. Given the school's proposed catchment area, following a comprehensive search by its agents, the Education Funding Agency confirmed this site as the most suitable in terms of size, location and suitability.

Procurement

Christopher Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what weighting his Department's procurement procedures give to (a) the location of a company and its workforce, (b) the extent to which a company has a strong environmental record, (c) whether the company is a social enterprise and (d) other company history prior performance.

Elizabeth Truss: The weightings the Department for Education applies to evaluation criteria will depend on the relative importance of the information and will vary from one procurement to another. The Department's ability to take into account criteria, such as those listed in your question, is limited by the procurement regulation and Government procurement policy.

Procurement

Christopher Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many and of what value of contracts procured by his Department in the last five years was carried out below EU thresholds.

Elizabeth Truss: The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Procurement

Christopher Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what proportion of his Department's contracts have been let to companies with (a) one to five, (b) six to 49, (c) 50 to 250 and (d) more than 250 staff.

Elizabeth Truss: The Department for Education is committed to increasing its direct and indirect spend with small to medium enterprises, but information is not available at the level of detail requested.

Procurement

Christopher Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what proportion and value of his Department's contracts have been let (a) under the restricted procedure, (b) by the open procedure, (c) via framework agreements and (d) via a tendering process involving the use of a pre-qualification questionnaire in each of the last three years.

Elizabeth Truss: The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Procurement

Christopher Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Education for each of the last three financial years how much and what proportion of the Department's procurement was conducted using e-procurement tools; and what the value of such contracts was.

Elizabeth Truss: The information requested is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Pupils: Bullying

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what the change in levels of racist bullying in schools was between 2012 and 2013.

Elizabeth Truss: The Government have made tackling all forms of bullying, including racist bullying, a top priority. All schools must have a behaviour policy with measures to prevent all forms of bullying among pupils. Schools have the freedom to tailor their anti-bullying policies to address local issues, such as racism, which may vary geographically. Under the current Ofsted framework school inspectors consider how well schools prevent bullying, harassment and discrimination. Inspectors consider how well teachers manage the behaviour of pupils to ensure that all pupils have an equal and fair chance to thrive and learn in an atmosphere of respect and dignity.
	In the Education Act 2011 we strengthened teachers' powers to discipline pupils for poor behaviour, including bullying. They can now issue same day detentions, confiscate banned items and search for, and if necessary delete, inappropriate images on mobile phones.
	We are also providing £4 million of funding over two years from spring 2013 to four organisations: Beatbullying, The Diana Award, Kidscape and the NCB to develop effective initiatives to prevent and tackle all forms of bullying, including racist bullying. These organisations have in place separate evaluations, which will report on the effectiveness of their initiatives.

Schools: Finance

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education when schools will receive the new funding for children adopted from care and those under a special guardianship order announced by his Department on 1 October 2013.

Edward Timpson: Pupils adopted from care on or after 30 December 2005 (under the Adoption and Children Act 2002), or who left care under a Residence Order or a Special Guardianship Order (under the Children Act 1989) will attract pupil premium funding for their schools for financial year 2014-15. The pupil premium for 2014-15 will be paid in quarterly instalments in July 2014, October 2014, January 2015 and April 2015.

CABINET OFFICE

Average Earnings: Ashfield

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what change there has been in median gross weekly pay for (a) men and (b) women in Ashfield constituency in each year since 2010.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Caron Walker
	On behalf of the Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what change there has been in median gross weekly pay for (a) men and (b) women in Ashfield constituency in each year since 2010. (182899).
	The Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), carried out in April each year, is the most comprehensive source of earnings information in the United Kingdom. Weekly levels of earnings are estimated from ASHE, and are provided for employees on adult rates of pay, whose earnings for the survey pay period were not affected by absence. Figures relate to employee jobs, which are defined as those held by employees and not the self-employed.
	I attach a table showing estimates of median gross weekly earnings, and the corresponding annual percentage changes, for male and female employees in Ashfield constituency from 2010 to 2013, the latest period for which results are available.
	
		
			 Median gross weekly earnings for employees1 in Ashfield constituency, 2010 to 2013 
			 £ 
			  Male employees Previous year (%) Female employees Previous year (%) 
			 2010 **498.1 — **312.1 — 
			 20112,4 **462.6 -7.1 **287.1 -8.0 
			 20113,4 **455.5 — **283.2 — 
			 2012 **467.9 2.7 **284.2 0.4 
			 2013 **438.6 -6.3 **285.5 0.5 
			 1 Employee jobs are defined as those held by employees and not the self-employed. Figures relate to employees on adult rates whose pay for the survey pay period was not affected by absence. ASHE is based on a 1% sample of jobs taken from HM Revenue and Customs' Pay As You Earn (PAYE) records. Consequently, individuals with more than one job may appear in the sample more than once. 2 2011 results based on Standard Occupational Classification 2000. 3 2011 results based on Standard Occupational Classification 2010. 4 Estimates for years prior to 2011 are based on SOC 2000 and estimates for years after 2011 are based on SOC 2010. Figures are only considered to be directly comparable if they are based on the same SOC. Guide to quality: The Coefficient of Variation (CV) indicates the quality of a figure, the smaller the CV value the higher the quality. The true value is likely to lie within +/- twice the CV—for example, for an average of 200 with a CV of 5%, we would expect the population average to be within the range 180 to 220. Key: ** CV > 10% and <=20%. Source: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), Office for National Statistics.

Cancer: Females

Jim Shannon: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many women have been diagnosed with (a) breast and (b) lung cancer in each of the last three years.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Peter Fullerton, dated January 2014
	On behalf of the Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your recent question, how many women have been diagnosed with (a) breast and (b) lung cancer in each of the last three years?
	Table 1 provides the number of newly diagnosed cases of breast and lung cancer for females in England for each year from 2009 to 2011 (the latest year available).
	The latest published figures on cancer incidence in England are available on the National Statistics website at:
	http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/publications/re-reference-tables.html?edition=tcm%3A77-302299
	The Office for National Statistics produces statistics on cancer in England. The Scottish Cancer Registry produces statistics on cancer in Scotland. Statistics on cancer in Wales are produced by the Welsh Cancer Intelligence and Surveillance Unit. The Northern Ireland Cancer Registry produces statistics on cancer in Northern Ireland.
	
		
			 Table 1: Number of newly diagnosed cases of breast cancer1 and lung cancer2, females, England, 2009 to 20113 
			  Year 
			 Site Description 2009 2010 2011 
			 Malignant neoplasm of trachea, bronchus and lung 15,020 15,345 15,699 
			 Malignant neoplasm of breast4 40,569 41,604 41,523 
			 1 Breast cancer is coded as C50 in the International Classification of Disease, Tenth Revision (ICD-10). 2 Lung cancer is coded as C33-34 in the International Classification of Disease, Tenth Revision (ICD-10). 3 Newly diagnosed cases registered in each calendar year. 4 Excludes non residents. Source: Office for National Statistics

Jobseekers Allowance: West Midlands

Roger Godsiff: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many jobseeker's allowance claimants there were at each jobcentre in Birmingham and Solihull in each month between October 2012 and June 2013.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Peter Fullerton, dated January 2014
	On behalf of the Director General for the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking how many Jobseeker's Allowance claimants there were at each jobcentre in Birmingham and Solihull in each month between October 2012 and June 2013 inclusive. (182823)
	The Office for National Statistics (ONS) compiles data on the number of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) from the Jobcentreplus Administrative System.
	Table 1 shows the number of people who were claiming JSA from October 2012 to June 2013 inclusive for the requested geographies.
	National and local area estimates for many labour market statistics, including employment, unemployment and claimant count are available on the NOMIS website at:
	http://www.nomisweb.co.uk
	A copy of the table will be placed in the Library of the House.

Plymouth Brethren

Jim Shannon: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office when the decision to give the Plymouth Brethren charity status will be made.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Charity Commission. I have asked the Commission's chief executive to reply.
	Letter from Sam Younger, dated 15 January 2014
	I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question to the Minister for the Cabinet Office asking when the decision to give the Plymouth Brethren charity status will be made.
	The Charity Commission announced on 9 January that we will accept an application for registration from the Preston Down Trust, a Plymouth Brethren Christian Church meeting hall, based on a revised governing document. The Trust has agreed to re-submit an application for registration and to amend its trusts by entering into a Deed of Variation, which sets out in a manner binding on the trustees the church's core religious doctrines and practices.
	In our decision the Commission said we are satisfied that under the new governing document the organisation is charitable and that the Commission will be able to regulate the charity against the new trusts.
	This application was made as a precursor to similar applications to be made in due course by the trustees of other meetings halls held for the purposes of the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church and, as such, was seen as a test case for other Plymouth Brethren meeting halls.
	The full decision is available on the Commission's website and, recognising the considerable Parliamentary interest in this registration case, I have placed a copy in the House of Commons library.

DEFENCE

Armed Forces: Hearing Impairment

Stephen Lloyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many service personnel have had their hearing classified as H3 or below as a result of their PULHEEMS assessment at the age of (a) 30, (b) 35, (c) 40, (d) 45 and (e) 50 since January 2009.

Anna Soubry: Since 1 January 2009 the following numbers of UK Service personnel have had a hearing grade H3 ‘impaired hearing’ or H4 ‘poor hearing’ recorded on their primary health care patient record:
	
		
			 Age of personnel Number of Personnel with hearing grade H3 or H4 
			 30 656 
			 35 501 
			 40 738 
			 45 438 
			 50 399 
		
	
	It should be noted that this is a snapshot of information recorded on the primary care record at that specific age. If personnel had a H3 or H4 recorded at a different age, they have not been included in the numbers provided.
	It should also be noted that in-service Joint Medical Employment Standard assessments are no longer routinely carried out when personnel reach certain ages.

Armed Forces: Hearing Impairment

Stephen Lloyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many individuals with measured hearing loss on discharge at 35-50dB averaged over 1, 2 and 3 kHz frequencies have made application for hearing loss awards under (a) the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme, (b) the War Pension Scheme and (c) both schemes since April 2002.

Anna Soubry: Between 6 April 2005 and 30 September 2013 (the earliest and latest dates for which Armed Forces Compensation data are available) 295 claims have been made for deafness/hearing loss under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme.
	The number of these individuals who have made claims for hearing loss under the War Pensions Scheme is not available and can be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Armed Forces: Hearing Impairment

Stephen Lloyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many applications have been received by the Service Personnel and Veterans Agency for Armed Forces Compensation Scheme or War Pension awards for hearing loss since April 2002.

Anna Soubry: Between 6 April 2005 and 30 September 2013 (the earliest and latest date for which Armed Forces Compensation Scheme data are available) a minimum of 2,460 claims have been made for deafness and hearing loss.
	It has not been possible to provide War Pension Scheme data for financial year 2002-03, as this information could be provided only at disproportionate cost. However, between 1 April 2003 and 31 March 2013 (the latest date for which War Pension Scheme (WPS) data are available) a minimum of 2,285 first claims have been made for deafness and hearing loss.

Armed Forces: Hearing Impairment

Stephen Lloyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many people have been awarded a zero per cent War Pension for hearing loss since April 2002.

Anna Soubry: It has not been possible to provide the figures for financial year 2002-03, as this information could be provided only at disproportionate cost. However, between 1 April 2003 and 31 March 2013 (the latest date for which War Pension Scheme data are available) a minimum of 1,315 people have been awarded a 0% War Pension for deafness or hearing loss.
	0% awards are recorded where the medical condition is accepted as being due to service, but has not led to any degree of disablement.

Armed Forces: Northern Ireland

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many Northern Ireland service personnel are currently serving outside the UK.

Anna Soubry: I refer the hon. Member to the answer my predecessor the Minister for the Armed Forces, my right hon. Friend the Member for Rayleigh and Wickford (Mr Francois) gave on 1 July 2013, Official Report, column 398W, to the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon). In the absence of a comprehensive picture of individuals recruited from Northern Ireland, it is not possible to specify where they are serving.

Asia

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the US Department of Defense's plan to enlist the co-operation of allies to support increased use of armed and surveillance unmanned vehicles in Asia, as set out in the Unmanned Systems Integrated Roadmap FY2013-2036.

Mark Francois: We co-operate with the US on a number of issues, and are proactively engaged in seeking ways to further enhance our defence and security relationship, and to make best use of military assets, including unmanned systems, to fulfil our shared capability requirements.

Burma

Naomi Long: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what outcomes are expected from training provided to the Burmese Army.

Mark Francois: Providing defence education to overseas armed forces personnel to the same high standards used by UK armed forces helps improve standards, accountability and among other things, raises awareness of the importance of human rights. It also helps build stability overseas as part of the Government's wider foreign policy goals.
	Each participant of the Managing Defence in a Wider Security Context course that recently took place in Burma received education in the following objectives:
	the structures and processes through which security can be legitimately governed and managed;
	professionalism within the defence and security sectors as it pertains to civilian and security personnel;
	the significance of leadership, governance and management in the attainment of higher professional standards;
	the implications and benefits of enhanced professionalism for the civil-military relationship; and
	the wider consequences of enhanced professionalism for international security.

Burma

Naomi Long: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what steps he is taking to ensure that Burmese Army soldiers receiving training by UK armed forces have not been involved in human rights abuses in the past.

Mark Francois: The course that we are currently providing was specifically tailored for Burmese officers at the rank of Colonel and Lieutenant Colonel and seeks to address the key issues of accountability, governance and respect for human rights. We have no information to suggest that course participants have been involved in human rights abuses.
	We have a long tradition of providing defence education to overseas armed forces personnel and we do so in Burma in support of wider foreign policy objectives.

Defence Support Group

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what his policy is on the privatisation of the Defence Support Group; and if he will make a statement.

Philip Dunne: The intention is to complete the sale of the Defence Support Group (DSG) Land Business in financial year 2014-15.
	I see a sale as the best opportunity for the front line to retain access to a DSG with the capacity, capability, and access to the investment needed to support the armed forces of the future. It will enable DSG to diversify and grow, and reduce its dependence on the Ministry of Defence as its sole major customer.
	The DSG is recognised as an important maintenance supplier to the British armed forces, particularly the Army. Our intention is that it remains so. However, this does not preclude sale. Private sector contractors already successfully provide maintenance and support repair services to the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force for their major equipment platforms and a sale would bring similar analogous arrangements into place for the British Army.

Mali

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether the UK will provide any support to the deployment of French Reapers in Mali.

Mark Francois: There are currently no plans for the UK to provide any support to the deployment of remotely piloted air systems in Africa by France.

Procurement

Christopher Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many and what value of contracts procured by his Department in the last five years was carried out below EU thresholds.

Philip Dunne: The number and value of Ministry of Defence (MOD) contracts awarded that fell below the applicable European Union thresholds during the last five calendar years are shown in the following table.
	
		
			  Number of contracts1 Value of contracts (£ million)2 
			 2009 2,140 57 
			 2010 1,240 47 
			 2011 1,130 40 
			 2012 700 36 
			 20133 200 27 
			 1 The number of contracts in each year has been rounded to the nearest 10. 2 The value of contracts is based on the earliest recorded value; this is not necessarily the final value of the contract. 3 Information for 2013 is incomplete due to late reporting and there are likely to be more contracts added to the database with a contract start date in 2013 as 2014 progresses. 
		
	
	Contracts not included are those which may have been made on behalf of other Government Departments, by MOD Trading Funds or Executive Non Departmental Public Bodies, placed locally by the Department, through third parties or in relation to collaborative projects where the payments are made through international procurement agencies or overseas Governments. Also not included are pan-Government enabling contracts, Terms of Business Arrangements, Government Procurement Card payments or miscellaneous transactions. Also excluded are contracts that are exempt from EU regulations because, for example, they relate to sensitive military equipment.

Unmanned Air Vehicles

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the answer of 19 December 2013, Official Report, columns 707-08W, on RAF Waddington, whether UK Reapers and the systems which control and support UK Reapers are interoperable with the capabilities and systems of any NATO allies.

Mark Francois: UK Reaper is interoperable with equivalent Reaper systems and other capabilities used by NATO allies.

CULTURE MEDIA AND SPORT

American Football

Andrew Percy: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what estimate she has made of the potential benefit to the UK economy of the NFL 2013 regular season games played at Wembley.

Helen Grant: I welcome the National Football League's commitment to playing regular season games at Wembley. The move to host three games next season demonstrates the commitment of Commissioner Goodell and the NFL owners to the UK. This is a welcome opportunity for British fans of NFL to attend games, and has a benefit through tourism and associated economic activity. It also enhances the UK's reputation for hosting major international sports events, as we continue to cement our Olympic Legacy.

Cinemas: Alcoholic Drinks

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what her policy is on the (a) drinking and (b) advertising of alcohol in cinemas.

Edward Vaizey: holding answer 17 December 2013
	The information is as follows:
	(a) Licensing Policy does not fall within the remit of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, but is the responsibility of the Home Office.
	(b) In non-broadcast media (including online and in the cinema) alcoholic drinks cannot be advertised if more than 25% of the audience is under 18 years of age.
	The UK Advertising Codes cover advertising in all media, including on TV, online (including on websites and social media) and across non-broadcast media (eg in cinemas, on posters, billboards, in newspapers and magazines).

Gambling: Advertising

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will discuss with Ofcom the finding of its report Trends in Advertising Activity Gambling, published in November 2013; and if she will make a statement.

Edward Vaizey: The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport regularly meets with Ofcom to discuss a range of matters, including a meeting in October 2013 with regulators-including Ofcom-specifically to obtain information about gambling advertising on television.
	The Government keep the potential impact of the increase in gambling advertising on the licensing objectives defined in the Gambling Act 2005 under review and used this opportunity to discuss with the regulators concerned the effectiveness of the various codes, regulations and current initiatives supporting these licensing objectives.

JUSTICE

Community Orders: Greater London

Ian Lavery: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what provision is made in the contract between his Department and Serco to provide Community PayBack in London for a health and safety policy; and what steps he has taken to ensure that that provision is satisfactory.

Jeremy Wright: The contract with Serco Group plc for delivery of Community Payback in London addresses Health and Safety in the following Schedules: Schedule A: Services—Special Conditions; Schedule C: Specification.
	I will place an extract from Schedules A and C in the Library.

Community Orders: Greater London

Ian Lavery: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many local offices have been closed as a result of the sub-contracting of Community Payback in London to Serco.

Jeremy Wright: Serco's delivery model includes the provision of a dedicated control centre to oversee operations on a day-to-day basis: this has allowed for the closure of four local offices and a storage unit. The new delivery model has also enabled London Probation Trust to carry out an estate rationalisation, with the closure of an additional three buildings.
	We estimate there will be savings of 37% over the lifetime of the four-year contract, releasing cashable savings of £25 million in that period.

Electronic Tagging

Kelvin Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice when he plans to bring forward legislative proposals in respect of electronic monitoring of offenders in order to reflect the announcement on preferred suppliers; and if he will make a statement.

Jeremy Wright: New legislation is not required in respect of the announcement of the preferred bidders. There is a range of existing legislative powers which enable offenders to be subject to electronic monitoring requirements and conditions: to monitor compliance with other conditions, such as curfew, and to monitor whereabouts as a condition in its own right. These powers are kept under review.

Lewes Prison

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many sex offenders are held at HM Prison Lewes; and how many places on sex offender treatment programmes are available at that prison.

Jeremy Wright: As of 30 September 2013 there were 71 prisoners held at HMP Lewes with an index offence of a sexual nature, of whom 46 were sentenced and 25 were on remand. The prison has been proposed as a treatment support site for other prisons in Kent and Sussex, particularly HMP Isle of Wight. A treatment support site's role is to support offenders before they get to treatment. SOTP is long (six months plus); resource intensive in terms of specially trained staff resources (including psychologists) and often emotionally demanding of staff who run these programmes. For these reasons (as well as others such as the numbers of sex offenders who deny their offence) SOTP has never been offered in all prisons that hold sex offenders but instead a network of prisons offering SOTPs has developed, allowing expertise to be built.
	The sex offenders at Lewes will be managed in a dedicated accommodation area and in accordance with the principles set out by the National Sex Offender Board. Lewes does run the Thinking Skills offender behaviour programme, and some places will be specifically allocated to sex offenders held in the prison.

National Offender Management Service

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what his Department's policy is on (a) the rehiring of former employees of the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) who took advantage of the voluntary early departure scheme and (b) repayment of any severance monies received as part of the voluntary early departure scheme if such former employees are subsequently rehired by the NOMS.

Jeremy Wright: The information is as follows:
	(a) When NOMS recruits in the external labour market through open and fair competition, it would, necessarily, not treat applicants differently because they were former employees who had previously left through voluntary exit.
	It might, on occasion, for particular purposes, choose to re-appoint former employees, outside of open and fair competition, if there were business reasons to do so. If such a need were to arise, the individuals to be considered and then selected would be determined at that time. NOMS does not have a predetermined policy regarding the treatment of former employees, who had previously left through voluntary exit, in relation to such appointments.
	Any new recruits, including ones who were former employees, would join on the rates of pay, and other terms and conditions, which applied at that time.
	(b) The provisions for the repayment of voluntary exit payments upon re-appointment are defined by the Civil Service Compensation Scheme. If an individual leaves through voluntary exit, and is re-employed in an organisation covered by the Civil Service pension and compensation arrangements within 28 days of leaving their current employer, their compensation will be cancelled and their service will treated as continuous. They will have to repay the full compensation amount.
	If they are re-employed in an organisation covered by the Civil Service pension and compensation arrangements outside the 28 day period, but within the lesser of six months, and the notional period of the compensation payment, they will have to pay back the compensation payment pro-rata.
	The repayment will be reduced in cases where the new employment is at a lower salary level than before.
	If the individual has taken their compensation in the form of pension, the repayment is based on the compensation payment that would otherwise have been paid.
	In all cases, if they have taken their pension on leaving, it may be subject to abatement if they are re-employed.
	Information on the Civil Service Compensation Scheme is available on the Civil Service website at:
	http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/pensions

Oakwood Prison

Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what assessment he has made of the disturbances at HM Prison Oakwood on 5 January 2014; and if he will make a statement.

Jeremy Wright: An incident at HMP Oakwood was resolved successfully in the early hours of 6 January. Police and internal investigations will now take place: it would not be appropriate to comment further at this stage.

Oakwood Prison

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many staff at HM Prison Oakwood have less than one year's service in the Prison Service.

Jeremy Wright: I refer the right hon. Member to the answer I gave to a previous question on 16 December 2013, Official Report, column 500W.

Oakwood Prison

Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what steps he is taking in response to the recent assessment of HM Prison Oakwood by HM Inspector of Prisons.

Jeremy Wright: HMP Oakwood has produced an action plan to implement the recommendations contained in the inspection report published on 8 October 2013. Progress on the implementation of the recommendations, which is now 80% complete, is regularly reviewed by the National Offender Management Service.

Prison Service

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  how many prison officers taking voluntary early departure since May 2010 have been subsequently re-employed by the National Offender Management Service (NOMS); how much severance pay those officers received in total; and how much severance pay was repaid to NOMS;
	(2)  what proportion of the severance pay received by prison officers for taking voluntary early departure has been paid back to his Department by those subsequently rehired by the Department.

Jeremy Wright: None of the prison officers who took voluntary early departure between May 2010 and September 2013 have been reemployed by the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) up until 1 October 2013. There has therefore been no repayment of severance pay made by these staff.

Prisoners: Repatriation

John Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prisoners were repatriated in 2013 to (a) China, (b) Vietnam, (c) Pakistan, (d) India, (e) Nigeria and (f) Jamaica.

Jeremy Wright: The United Kingdom has in place prisoner transfer arrangements with Vietnam, India, Pakistan and Nigeria. These arrangements provide for the voluntary transfer of a prisoner only. Between 1 January and 31 December 2013, three prisoners were transferred to Vietnam and one prisoner was transferred to India. No prisoners were transferred to Pakistan or Nigeria in 2013.
	On 9 January 2014 the United Kingdom and Nigeria signed a prisoner transfer agreement which no longer requires the consent of the prisoner. Once implemented this should lead to an increase in the number of prisoners transferred to Nigeria.
	The United Kingdom does not have in place prisoner transfer arrangements with Jamaica or China. As a consequence no prisoners were transferred to these countries to continue serving their sentences there.

Prisons: Private Sector

Elfyn Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of privately-run prisons in light of the recent disturbance in HMP Oakwood; and if she will make a statement.

Jeremy Wright: I am replying as Minister responsible for Prisons in England and Wales.
	Privately-run prisons have been a key feature of the prison estate for over 20 years and will continue to play a crucial role in rehabilitating offenders.
	The Ministry of Justice works closely with the management of privately-run prisons to ensure that the contractors deliver to their contractual requirements.
	The incident at HMP Oakwood was resolved successfully in the early hours of 6 January. Police and internal investigations will now take place: it would not be appropriate to comment further at this stage.

Probation

Edward Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice when he plans to have completed the handover of all offender supervision cases to (a) the National Probation Service and (b) community rehabilitation companies.

Jeremy Wright: Responsibility for the probation caseload transfers to the National Probation Service (NPS) and Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) on 1 April 2014. This will be done in a way which will not compromise public protection and risk management.
	During this first stage of the transition we are seeking to maintain as much continuity as possible. It is therefore anticipated that, in the majority of cases, the case will transfer into the new structure with the current case manager. Those cases that do need to be transferred to a different case manager will be transferred in a structured way which maintains continuity of supervision and ensures public protection is maintained. There is no requirement to complete case reallocation by 1 April where it is felt that to do so may compromise public protection and risk management.

Probation

Ian Lavery: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  how many mutuals have been approved for the purpose of the competitive tendering of probation services in England and Wales; and in which regions those mutuals are located;
	(2)  whether any probation trust will be permitted to participate in the competitive tendering for the supervision of prisoners serving less than 12 months upon their release.

Jeremy Wright: The competition process has been designed, as far as possible, to allow a range of different kinds of entities to be able to bid to deliver services. This includes mutuals designed by individuals within existing Probation Trusts. Such entities need to be capable of bearing financial risk.
	On 19 December the Ministry of Justice announced the 30 bidders who have passed the first stage of the competition, the Pre-Qualification Questionnaire, and who will be invited to bid for regional rehabilitation contracts.
	The bids are from a diverse mix of partnerships with more than 50 organisations represented. All of the bidders have experience working with offenders or across the wider criminal justice system. Mutuals formed by probation staff constitute around a third of shortlisted bidders.
	The full list of bidders and their partner groups can be found on the Government website at:
	www.gov.uk/government/news/best-in-the-business-bidding-to-rehabilitate-offenders

Probation: Private Sector

Edward Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many companies or other organisations have expressed interest in becoming or forming Community Rehabilitation Companies in each of the designated 21 areas specified by him.

Jeremy Wright: Following the announcement on 19 September that we would be running a competition to find the owners of the 21 Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) which will provide rehabilitation services to offenders, 35 companies expressed an interest in bidding, representing 50 organisations. On 19 December we announced that 30 bidders have passed the first stage of the competition, the Pre-Qualification Questionnaire, and will be invited to bid for regional rehabilitation contracts. All of the bidders have experience working with offenders or across the wider criminal justice system.
	The bids are from a diverse mix of partnerships representing a range of organisations including many from the voluntary sector. Mutuals formed by probation staff are also among those who will have the opportunity to bid to play a major role in the reforms, with around a third of shortlisted bidders including these groups. Bidders will need to select the contract package areas for which they want to bid during the next stage of the competition.
	The full list of bidders and their partner groups can be found on the Government website at:
	www.gov.uk/government/news/best-in-the-business-bidding-to-rehabilitate-offenders

Probation: Private Sector

Edward Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for the Home Department, the judiciary and the Director of Public Prosecutions on the lack of common geographical boundaries between the 21 proposed community rehabilitation companies, the police areas and the Crown Prosecution Service areas.

Jeremy Wright: In May 2013, we published ‘Transforming Rehabilitation—a strategy for reform’, which set out our response to our earlier, wide consultation ‘Transforming Rehabilitation—a revolution in the way we manage offenders’. The Home Office, judiciary and DPP were included in this process and both documents received cross-Government clearance through the Home Affairs Committee.
	Effective joint working is crucial if we are to tackle persistent reoffending, and we have aligned the contract package areas (CPAs) with other agencies' areas of responsibility in order to support this, while maintaining the scale and efficiencies we need. Many of the CPAs map one-to-one on to PCCs' area of responsibility, and we have taken care to ensure that no contract package area cuts across either PCC or local authority boundaries.
	My officials are engaging with PCCs and local authorities to ensure effective joint working continues at local level once the reforms are implemented. Our commissioning process will be informed by engagement with co-commissioning partners at a national, PCC and local authority level. PCCs will have the ability to commission rehabilitation providers to deliver additional services in line with their own priorities through co-commissioning. In addition there have been a number of meetings with the senior judiciary at both official and ministerial level to discuss the detail of the Offender Rehabilitation Bill as well as the broader reforms. Transforming Rehabilitation is also a standing agenda item at the National Sentencer Probation Forum.

Sentencing: Foreign Nationals

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many foreign national criminals received custodial sentences of two years or less between April 2013 and December 2013.

Jeremy Wright: There were 2,358 foreign national receptions sentenced to two years or less between April-June 2013 in England and Wales1.
	We are working hard to reduce the flow of FNOs into our prison system and increase the number of FNOs removed from the UK through Prisoner Transfer Agreements (PTAs); the Early Removal Scheme (ERS) and Tariff Expired Removal Scheme (TERS).
	1 We will publish July-September 2013 data later this month.

Serco

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  whether Serco has incurred any financial penalties due to performance targets being missed under the contract for the delivery of Community Payback in London to date;
	(2)  whether the contract with Serco for the delivery of Community Payback in London includes any option to extend the contract;
	(3)  how the savings claimed to be made under the contract with Serco for the delivery of Community Payback in London have been calculated;
	(4)  on which occasions service delivery failures have occurred since the beginning of the contract with Serco for the delivery of Community Payback in London;
	(5)  how many complaints to date have been received from (a) those undertaking Community Payback and (b) the London Probation Trust about the quality of the service being delivered by Serco under the contract for the delivery of Community Payback in London.

Jeremy Wright: The contract sets out in precise detail how the Community Payback service is to be delivered in London. Any service delivery issues are discussed at regular meetings between Serco and London Probation Trust.
	Serco has not incurred any financial penalties to date on account of performance targets having been missed. Serco is meeting key targets and is out-performing the national average on a number of key measures.
	The Ministry of Justice has not received any complaints about delivery of Community Payback in London by Serco. Data provided by Serco on complaints to the company itself indicate that during the period 31 October 2012 to 31 October 2013 the company received 69 complaints from offenders relating to Community Payback in London. No complaints have been received from London Probation Trust: any issues are addressed at the regular meetings between Serco and the Trust, as explained above.

Treason Felony Act 1848

Julian Huppert: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people have been convicted of an offence under section 3 of the Treason Felony Act 1848 in the last 30 years.

Jeremy Wright: Records show no convictions under section 3 of the Treason Felony Act 1848 in the last 30 years.

Written Questions: Government Responses

Edward Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice when he will answer the five written questions tabled by the hon. Member for Harborough on 17 December 2013 for answer on 19 December 2013.

Jeremy Wright: I understand that you have now received responses to your five written parliamentary questions and I apologise for the delay.

HEALTH

Cancer

John Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much of the £2.3 million of funding set aside for strategic clinical networks to improve awareness of symptoms has been allocated to assist early diagnosis of cancer.

Jane Ellison: All of the £2.3 million funding made available to strategic clinical networks (SCNs) in 2013-14 is intended to promote the awareness and early diagnosis of cancer. SCNs made bids to NHS England for funding for projects with those dual and interlinked aims.
	Of the £2.3 million, £10,000 was awarded to each SCN to support local engagement and raising awareness in the local area of the national Be Clear On Cancer campaigns and associated impact on the national health service. An additional £10,000 was awarded to the three SCNs who also had regional Be Clear On Cancer pilot campaigns running in their areas.
	£2,100,000 was awarded in funding of various amounts to 12 SCNs for projects to increase awareness and early diagnosis of cancer. These projects predominantly focus on increasing knowledge and intelligence in primary care to improve earlier diagnosis.
	£30,000 was additionally awarded to the Yorkshire and Humber SCN, who bid to support this programme of work and co-ordinate activity across SCNs.

Cancer

John Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to the recent publication of Eurocare 5 statistics on cancer survival rates, what steps his Department is taking to improve early diagnosis to ensure that cancer is identified early in patients.

Jane Ellison: Improving Outcomes: A Strategy for Cancer commits to saving an additional 5,000 lives each year by 2014-15. Over £750 million has been committed over four years to support early diagnosis and improve access to cancer treatment.
	Over £450 million has been committed to achieve early diagnosis of cancer by improving public awareness of the symptoms of cancer and improving access to key diagnostic tests. We have run national Be Clear On Cancer (BCOC) campaigns on bowel cancer (“blood in poo”), lung cancer (“cough”) and bladder/kidney cancer (“blood in pee”). A new national BCOC campaign to raise awareness of breast cancer in women over 70 will run in February and March 2014, along with regional campaigns on ovarian and oesophago-gastric cancers. In addition a new local pilot campaign on skin cancer awareness will run in May 2014.
	We are investing £170 million over four years to expand and introduce new methods of cancer screening, including age extensions to breast and bowel screening and introducing the new Bowel Scope Screening programme. We are also funding major trials of lung, ovarian and prostate cancer screening, which are due to report around 2015. We increased funding of cancer research to £133 million in 2012-13, up from £101 million in 2010-11.

Children: Death

Tony Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his policy is on the continuing publication by the Office of National Statistics of its annual statistical bulletin on (a) Childhood, Infant and Perinatal Mortality, (b) Unexpected Deaths in Infancy and (c) Gestation Specific Births and Infant Deaths in England and Wales.

Daniel Poulter: I refer the hon. Member to the written answer given to the hon. Member for Lewisham East (Heidi Alexander) on 13 January 2014, Official Report, columns 424-25W.

Clinical Commissioning Groups

John Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when the 2014-15 NHS England Clinical Commissioning Group Outcomes Indicator Set (CCG OIS) will be published; and when the consultation on the next iteration of the CCG OIS will open.

Jane Ellison: NHS England published the 2014-15 Clinical Commissioning Group Outcomes Indicator Set (CCG OIS) on 20 December. A copy has been placed in the Library.
	NHS England will begin development work on the next iteration of the CCG OIS shortly. As part of this work, NHS England will be considering arrangements for obtaining the views of interested parties.

Dental Health

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the proportion of (a) adults and (b) children with tooth decay in each year since 2010.

Daniel Poulter: This information is not available in the format requested. Data relating to tooth decay in children and adults are not collected annually in England. No information is available on tooth decay for adults for 2010 or later.
	The most recent available information in relation to tooth decay in adults is taken from the Adult Dental Health Survey, which is a decennial survey, the most recent of which relates to 2009:
	(a) In 2009, 30% of adults (aged 16 or over) had obvious tooth decay in either the crowns or roots of their teeth in England.
	Data from the National Dental Epidemiology Programme for England show that:
	(b) In 2009, in England, 17.5% of 12-year-old children had untreated tooth decay.

Depressive Illnesses

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the answer of 7 January 2014, Official Report, column 410W, on depressive illnesses, what the 37 studies into depression, to which his Department's National Institute for Health Research is currently recruiting patients, are.

Daniel Poulter: Details of these studies are available on the UK Clinical Research Network Portfolio Database at:
	http://england.ukcrn.org.uk/Portfolio.aspx?Level1=5&Level2 =34486tatus=34

Diabetes

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many cases of type 2 diabetes there have been (a) in total, (b) in each region and (c) in each parliamentary constituency in each year since 2010.

Jane Ellison: This information is not available in the format requested. The National Diabetes Audit (NDA) includes diabetes registrations in primary and secondary care. However, participation in the audit is not mandatory.
	Information concerning the number of type 2 diabetes patients recorded in the NDA for the years 2009-10 to 2011-12, both nationally and at clinical commissioning group level, has been placed in the Library.

Doctors: Working Hours

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  if he will investigate whether junior doctors are in compliance with working time regulations;
	(2)  what recent representations he has received raising concerns that junior doctors are put under pressure to work longer than permitted under working time regulations but not to declare it;
	(3)  if he will investigate whether junior doctors are working hours and shifts which could lead to fatigue.

Daniel Poulter: We recognise that the decision to sign up to the European working time directive in 1998 has presented challenges for both NHS employers and doctors, and has also caused concerns over reduced continuity of care for patients.
	It is the responsibility of individual NHS trusts to ensure that service rota for junior doctors are compliant with the working time directive.
	The President of the Royal College of Surgeons, Professor Norman Williams, is chairing an independent taskforce that has been commissioned to consider the impact of the working time directive and its interaction with the junior doctor's contract in different parts of the medical profession and at different levels of training.

Food: Advertising

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate his Department has made of the total amount spent by food and drink companies on advertising high fat, salt and sugar products in each year since 2010.

Jane Ellison: The Department has made no estimates of the amount food companies have spent on advertising food high in salt, fat and sugar in any of the years from 2010 to date, but reviews the content of external estimates to inform policy in this area.

Hernias

Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many inguinal hernia repair procedures were carried out in England (a) in total and (b) on people aged 65 and over in each of the last 10 years.

Jane Ellison: The following table provides information concerning the count of finished consultant episodes (FCEs) with a main or secondary procedure of repair of inguinal hernia carried out in England in the total population, and on people aged 65 and over for the years 2003-04 to 2012-13.
	
		
			  All population Age 65+ 
			 2003-04 74,750 31,007 
			 2004-05 72,587 30,022 
			 2005-06 73,037 30,116 
			 2006-07 74,473 30,177 
			 2007-08 78,155 32,198 
			 2008-09 75,775 31,535 
			 2009-10 72,674 30,669 
			 2010-11 72,222 30,240 
			 2011-12 74,947 31,957 
			 2012-13 72,783 31,868 
			 Notes: 1. FCE is a continuous period of admitted patient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider. Figures do not represent the number of different patients, as a person may have more than one episode of care within the same stay in hospital or in different stays in the same year. 2. The table provides the number of episodes-where the procedure (or intervention) was recorded in any of the 24 (12 from 2002-03 to 2006-07 and four prior to 2002-03) procedure fields in a Hospital Episode Statistics record. A record is only included once in each count, even if the procedure is recorded in more than one procedure field of the record. Note that more procedures are carried out than episodes with a main or secondary procedure.

NHS

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking to (a) measure and (b) improve the health and well-being of the NHS workforce and its supply chain.

Daniel Poulter: It is the responsibility of the national health service and its supply chain to measure and improve the health and well-being of their staff.
	We measure progress by monitoring monthly NHS staff sickness absence rates and health and well-being results from the annual NHS staff survey.
	We support employers to improve the health and well-being of their staff through a structured programme of advice, guidance and best practice delivered by NHS Employers whose help is available to all employers across the NHS.
	The current main focus of NHS Employers' programme includes: the identification, production, promotion and mobilisation of good practice; supporting more than 100 trusts with most to gain from reducing their sickness absence rates; developing performance in parts of the NHS with particular challenges, e.g. mental health trusts; supporting the effective use of occupational health services and developing good practice on staff engagement.
	In addition, in response to Robert Francis QC's recommendations following his enquiry into failings at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust, the Department has also commissioned NHS Employers to support the NHS in: developing line managers to better manage staff mental well-being; improving emotional well-being within organisations; providing organisational interventions to improve staff engagement, helping line managers to promote staff engagement and supporting effective organisational development.

Nutrition

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans the Government have to update the recommended guideline daily amounts of (a) sugar, (b) fat, (c) salt and (d) calorie intake.

Jane Ellison: Guideline daily amounts were introduced by the food industry. The Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) reviewed the dietary reference values for energy intakes in 2011 but the Government decided not to revise energy intake recommendations for adults given the uncertainties in the evidence and the high prevalence of obesity and overweight in the United Kingdom.
	The SACN is currently undertaking a review of the evidence on carbohydrates, including sugars and sources of sugar, and health. This includes assessing the literature on obesity, type 2 diabetes and tooth decay. The draft report is expected to go out to public consultation in 2014. Once the responses have been considered, SACN will finalise its report and provide recommendations to the Government. On this basis, dietary advice and any recommendations on specific foods will be updated accordingly.
	There are no current plans to review other dietary reference values.

Parkinson's Disease: Derbyshire

Pauline Latham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of how clinical commissioning groups in Mid Derbyshire are planning for Parkinson's services in Mid Derbyshire.

Norman Lamb: We have made no such assessment.
	The commissioning of national health service provision for diagnosis and treatment of Parkinson's Disease is a matter for the NHS locally.

Procurement

Christopher Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many and what value of contracts procured by his Department in the last five years was carried out below EU thresholds.

Daniel Poulter: The following table sets out the values obtained from the Department's Business Management System of procurement activity that was carried out below the European Union threshold.
	
		
			  £ 
			 2009 204,678,848.23 
			 2010 124,784,658.19 
			 2011 64,016,574.02 
		
	
	
		
			 2012 71,915,951.24 
			 2013 66,487,820.70 
		
	
	The information available is sourced from purchase order data. The Department is unable to provide the numbers of contracts without further detailed analysis of the financial information, which would incur disproportionate cost.

Procurement

Christopher Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of his Department's contracts have been let to companies with (a) one to five, (b) six to 49, (c) 50 to 250 and (d) more than 250 staff.

Daniel Poulter: The Department does not hold information on supplier staff numbers to the levels of detail specified.
	The Department is committed to increasing spend with small and medium enterprises both directly and through its supply chains.

Procurement

Christopher Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Health for each of the last three financial years how much and what proportion of the Department's procurement was conducted using e-procurement tools; and what the value of such contracts was.

Daniel Poulter: The Department has carried out 100% of its procurement activities for the last three financial years using e-procurement. The vast majority of procurement spend the Department incurs is managed within its Business Management System (BMS) and the total value of contracts procured for the last three financial years using e-procurement is set out as follows based on figures derived from our BMS:
	
		
			  £ 
			 2010-11 827,396,661.23 
			 2011-12 612,787,119.51 
			 2012-13 657,102,964.19

BUSINESS, INNOVATION AND SKILLS

Cement

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will estimate the potential cost to the UK cement industry of carbon floor price compensation measures under the EU's draft guidelines on environmental and energy aid for 2014-2020, published on 18 December 2013.

Michael Fallon: It is unclear whether the European Commission's draft energy and environmental aid guidelines allow compensation for the indirect emission costs due to the carbon price support mechanism for the UK cement industry. The Mineral Products Association has made a case to me for inclusion, but the final decision rests with the Commission when they publish their guidelines. Meanwhile, BIS officials will continue to work closely with the cement industry over the forthcomings months.

Conditions of Employment

Ian Murray: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills when the cross-Government working party on statistics for zero-hours contracts has met to date; and when any final report from that body will be published.

Jennifer Willott: The cross-Government working party on statistics for zero-hours contracts met on 13 September 2013 and 13 December 2013, and will be meeting on 17 January. The final report from that body is provisionally expected to be published in April.

Minimum Wage

Paul Maynard: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what estimate he has made of recent trends in non-compliance with the national minimum wage.

Jennifer Willott: Currently, our best estimate of non-compliance is from the Annual Survey of Household Earnings (ASHE). However, findings from the survey do not take into account the fact that some workers are not entitled to receive the national minimum wage, for example, students undertaking work experience as part of their UK higher or further education course. The ASHE figures may therefore overestimate the level of non-compliance with national minimum wage (NMW) law.
	The Office for National Statistics low pay release in December 2013 suggests that in April 2013 non-compliance was not a growing problem. The trend is fairly stable for adults with a slight increase in non-compliance for younger workers over the last three years. The following table outlines the number and percentage of jobs below the NMW over the last three years.
	
		
			 Number and percentage of jobs paid below the national minimum wage in the UK 2011-13 
			  Age 16-17 Age 18-20 Age 21 and over All jobs 
			  Thousand Percentage Thousand Percentage Thousand Percentage Thousand Percentage 
			 April 20111 15 5.7 49 4.4 207 0.8 272 1.1 
			 April 20122 18 6.6 56 5.1 207 0.8 280 1.1 
			 April 20133 19 7.3 57 5.5 203 0.8 279 1.1 
			 1 Rate is £3.64 per hour (aged 16-17 or £4.92 per hour (aged 18-20) or £5.93 per hour (aged 21 and over). 2 Rate is £3.68 per hour (aged 16-17) or £4,98 per hour (aged 18-20) or £6.08 per hour (aged 21 and over). 3 Rate is £3.68 per hour (aged 16-17) or £4.98 per hour (aged 18-20) or £6.19 per hour (aged 21 and over). Source: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Office for National Statistics

Motor Vehicles: Hire Services

Jim Dobbin: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills 
	(1)  what steps he is taking to tackle mandatory fuel purchase charges in the UK vehicle rental sector; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  what recent representations he has made to his European counterparts on the enforcement of domestic and EU regulations against mandatory fuel purchases in the vehicle rental sector.

Jennifer Willott: We have made no recent representations to European counterparts on this issue.
	Charges for fuel by vehicle rental firms and the conditions under which they charge are commercial matters for the vehicle rental industry. In advertising and presenting its services a vehicle rental firm must be clear about the total price for the consumer, including any non-optional charges covered by the contract. Failure to provide adequate and accurate information about price is likely to be an offence under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008.
	The regulations implement an EU Directive and outlaw misleading and unfair commercial practices, including practices which are misleading by omitting important information. There are substantially the same rules in all other EU member states.

Procurement

Christopher Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what weighting his Department's procurement procedures give to (a) the location of a company and its workforce, (b) the extent to which a company has a strong environmental record, (c) whether the company is a social enterprise and (d) other company history prior performance.

Jennifer Willott: The Department for Business Innovation and Skill's procurement procedures do not provide any formal weighting for the location of a company and its workforce, the extent to which a company has a strong environmental record, whether the company is a social enterprise or other company history prior performance.
	However, the Department is keen to promote procurement opportunities to all suppliers irrespective of size and regularly publishes tenders on the Government's “contracts finder” website.

Procurement

Christopher Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many and what value of contracts procured by his Department in the last five years was carried out below EU thresholds.

Jennifer Willott: The Department for Business Innovation and Skills does not hold this information centrally and the answer cannot be provided without incurring disproportionate cost.

Procurement

Christopher Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what proportion of his Department's contracts have been let to companies with (a) one to five, (b) six to 49, (c) 50 to 250 and (d) more than 250 staff.

Jennifer Willott: The Department for Business Innovation and Skills does not hold this information centrally and the answer cannot be provided without incurring disproportionate cost. For information, the Department is responsible for developing business opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with up to 250 employees. We strongly encourage SMEs to bid for departmental contracts they believe they could fill.

Procurement

Christopher Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what proportion and value of his Department's contracts have been let (a) under the restricted procedure, (b) by the open procedure, (c) via framework agreements and (d) via a tendering process involving the use of a pre-qualification questionnaire in each of the last three years.

Jennifer Willott: The Department for Business Innovation and Skills does not hold this information centrally and the answer cannot be provided without incurring disproportionate cost.
	For information, the Department has recently transferred its strategic and non-strategic procurement operations to a specialist procurement team within UK Shared Business Services Ltd. In doing so, the Department has moved from a de-centralised procurement process to a centralised process. This will allow the application of best practice, better use of existing and new framework agreements and the delivery of procurement cost savings.

Public Transport: Industrial Disputes

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will bring forward legislative proposals to reform existing trades union legislation to prevent public transport unions undertaking excessive numbers of strikes and to provide independent binding arbitration of future disputes on the London Transport Network and other areas.

Jennifer Willott: The Government believe that disputes are best handled through negotiation between the parties. Strikes and other forms of industrial action should be regarded as a last resort after attempts to resolve differences through dialogue have been exhausted. Nevertheless, the freedom for individuals to take industrial action is an essential feature of any democratic society. Where disputes cannot be resolved by negotiation, then workers must have other means to defend their interests.
	In relation to binding arbitration, the independent Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) stands ready to assist all parties in reaching an agreement. Drawing on its long experience, ACAS understands that all parties must fully accept their involvement for arbitration to work. The Government do not however support the idea that the parties should be compelled to accept the involvement of an independent arbitrator or conciliator. That would undermine ACAS's effectiveness.
	The Government monitor the application of the law in this important area, and will bear these suggestions in mind should it prove necessary in future to reassess the legal framework.

Radioactive Waste

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps he took to ensure involvement by independent non-institutional experts in the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council programme supporting radioactive waste research announced on 8 January 2014.

David Willetts: The DISTINCTIVE project, recently funded with a £4.9 million grant from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), was commissioned to maintain underpinning research capability and help address key challenges in the area of decommissioning and pre-treatment of nuclear waste prior to disposal or re-use.
	A workshop was held to scope the research. Participants included representatives from academic research groups in the UK working in this area and from the main industry players. The university participants were from Leeds, Sheffield, UCL, Imperial, Manchester, Loughborough, the University of Central Lancashire, Strathclyde, Lancaster and Birmingham. The Government and industry participants were from EPSRC, Sellafield Ltd, the National Nuclear Laboratory, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, the Electronics Knowledge Transfer Network and the Office for Nuclear Regulation.
	The proposal was assessed by an independent panel—half of whom were retired nuclear engineers with no current affiliation to organisations in the nuclear sector. The other panel members were nuclear industry experts, but from companies that were not involved in the scoping of the project; nor will they be involved in the subsequent operation of the programme.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Burma

Naomi Long: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many women who have been victims of rapes and sexual violence by Burmese armed forces have received financial assistance from her Department in the last two years.

Alan Duncan: I refer the hon. Member to my previous answer to the right hon. Member for Leicester East (Keith Vaz) dated 21 November 2013, Official Report, column 957W.

Disclosure of Information

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will place in the Library a copy of the Report by the Parliamentary Ombudsman to the hon. member for Brighton, Pavilion of an investigation into a complaint made by Mr Oloko and her Department's response.

Alan Duncan: Decisions on the publication of parliamentary ombudsman's reports are the responsibility of the parliamentary ombudsman.

Palestinians

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the answer of 6 January 2014, Official Report, column 11W, on Palestinians, for what reasons the reports she received concluded that emergency response systems were working adequately.

Alan Duncan: The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) confirmed to DFID in December that national and international partners have responded to the emergency needs in a timely and coordinated fashion. OCHA appealed for donors to work through existing funding mechanisms and to ensure that Gaza is prepared for such events in the future.

Procurement

Christopher Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what weighting her Department's procurement procedures give to (a) the location of a company and its workforce, (b) the extent to which a company has a strong environmental record, (c) whether the company is a social enterprise and (d) other company history prior performance.

Justine Greening: Contracts are awarded to companies which offer the best procurement solution and value for money for the UK taxpayer.

Procurement

Christopher Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many and what value of contracts procured by her Department in the last five years was carried out below EU thresholds.

Justine Greening: The information is tabled as follows:
	
		
			  Number of contracts Value of contracts (£000) 
			 2011 4 335 
			 2012 15 1,038 
			 2013 3 201 
			 Total 22 1,575 
		
	
	DFID only holds information on centrally-let contracts. Sourcing this data for 2009 and 2010 would incur disproportionate costs for the Department.

Procurement

Christopher Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what proportion of her Department's contracts have been let to companies with (a) one to five, (b) six to 49, (c) 50 to 250 and (d) more than 250 staff.

Justine Greening: DFID does not hold information on supplier staffing that would answer the question to the level of detail specified.

Procurement

Christopher Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what proportion and value of her Department's contracts have been let (a) under the restricted procedure, (b) by the open procedure, (c) via framework agreements and (d) via a tendering process involving the use of a pre-qualification questionnaire in each of the last three years.

Justine Greening: The information is tabled as follows:
	
		
			 2010-11 
			  Procedure Proportion (%) Value (£ million) 
			 (a) Restricted procedure 79 300 
			 (b) Open procedure 0 0 
			 (c) Framework agreements 12 48 
		
	
	
		
			 2011-12 
			  Procedure Proportion (%) Value (£ million) 
			 (a) Restricted procedure 74 356 
			 (b) Open procedure 0 0 
			 (c) Framework agreements 16 79 
		
	
	
		
			 2012-13 
			  Procedure Proportion (%) Value (£ million) 
			 (a) Restricted procedure 47 167 
		
	
	
		
			 (b) Open procedure 4 13 
			 (c) Framework agreements 46 166 
		
	
	Both restricted and framework agreement contracts are subject to pre-qualification questionnaires.

Procurement

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much and what value of her Department's procurement was conducted using e-procurement tools in each of the last three financial years.

Alan Duncan: The information requested is as follows:
	
		
			  Volumes Values (£) 
			 2010-11 113 382,132,225 
			 2011-12 135 483,489,685 
			 2012-13 112 700,752,653 
		
	
	All centrally-let contracts are managed via an e-procurement system.